Blueberries...Beautiful Blueberries!

First harvest of blueberries,
2013

Growing up, I thought the only place one could grow blueberries was Maine. You know, blueberry syrup and all. Am I ever thankful to have learned the truth! Blueberries can be grown in North Carolina (and other parts of the South)...easily, and with great results.

I totally understand how Fats Domino found his thrill on Blueberry Hill. Our blueberry bushes may not be on a hill...actually, they are in raised beds on flat ground...but it has been thrilling to be picking this year.

To recap...

We have 9 rabbiteye blueberry bushes planted in 3 raised beds in the Berry Patch (northeast)quadrant of the Way Back Garden. We purchased our bushes from the Guilford County 4-H in two "batches:" 2 Climax and 1 Premier varieties in the Spring of 2011; 3 Climax and 3 Premier in the Fall of '11.


According to our Soil Test, performed in March of 2011, the soil in this area of the Way Back had a pH of 5.1 (can you say ACID soil?). Fortunately, according to the North Carolina Cooperative Extension/NC State publication, Growing Blueberries in the Home Garden, blueberries are happiest growing in acid soil, with rabbiteyes preferring a pH of less than 5.3. No lime needed here! We were good to go...after adding the recommended 2 pounds of 10-10-10 fertilizer. (The actual recommendation on the Soil Test Report says 20 lbs per 1000 sq. ft.; as we have three 32 sq. ft. boxes = 96 sq. ft. total...I rounded that up to 100 sq. ft. to make the math easier...we needed 1/10 of the recommended application = 20/10 = 2 lbs.).

Why rabbiteyes, you may ask? Or, even...what are the different species of blueberries? There are 3 main species that are cultivated for the home garden: high bush, rabbiteye, and southern high bush.

"The rabbiteye (Vaccinium ashei) is more drought and heat resistant and will tolerate a wider range of soil types than the highbush. For these reasons, rabbiteye is easier to establish and grow successfully in the Piedmont..." according to NC State.

The BackyardGardener.com site says the following:

"Vaccinium ashei is a Southeastern U.S. species, well adapted to hot, humid summers with mild winters. They tolerate conditions that other blueberries will not. They generally grow 6 to 8 feet tall, and the blueberries ripen in late spring or early summer."

Both sites recommend planting more than one rabbiteye variety to provide the cross-pollination needed for maximum yields. NC State lists recommended varieties for the Piedmont, including Climax and Premier, which were developed by NC State. And that is just what the (NC) county 4-H was selling. Funny how that worked out, eh?

Mr. T built the raised beds, 8" deep, 8x4 in size. We simply tilled up the native soil, amended only with compost and leaf mold (mainly to help improve the tilth of our native CLAY soil) at planting time.  He also added metal fence posts, one at the end of each box, with a wire strung between them, to provide support for the netting used to protect the harvest from our ever-present bird friends. Here's a shot of the Berry Patch, taken from the Rondel in early 2012:

View of Berry Patch from Rondel,
looking NE, at the blueberry boxes
Spring - 2012

Last Fall (2012), we mulched the beds with leaves (mostly oak), and this Spring prior to bloom, I fertilized them with 10-10-10. As the bushes began to flower, I added Milorganite, which is chiefly a nitrogen fertilizer (5-2-0), based on the Soil Test report's recommendations for Maintenance/When Plants are Mature (after Year 2) :

"After another four to six weeks...nitrogen alone may be applied at this time."

After harvest (and prior to July 20), I will apply another topdressing of Milorganite. Then, we will have the soil tested next Spring per recommendation.

So, that's what we did...now let's see some results! As I have said before, we missed last year's (2012)harvest, due to our extended stay in KY. We didn't know what to expect from this year...but I was basing my expectations on what I wanted to eat.

I wanted a blueberry pie!

Check that goal off the list.! The blueberries have performed in the OUTSTANDING category, if you ask me. I picked an initial 1-2 cups (see picture above) (oh, I can't tell you the exact amount, as I ate so many when I was picking [ducking my head with a sheepish grin]), which were washed, lightly sugared, and eaten on cereal and for dessert.



Second harvest of blueberries,
2013

Then, four days (and three rains) later, I picked over 6 cupsful (left)! That was enough for blueberry pancakes for Sunday Brunch...and my blueberry pie.  [If you want to see those pictures and get the recipe, please visit the family blog The Adsit Adventure posting Found My Thrill here.]

It's Day 3...and as many rains...since I last picked berries, so I am mouth-wateringly looking forward to tomorrow. I'm hoping for another large haul, as I now want to "can" blueberry pie filling.

I found that recipe in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, edited by Judi Kingry and Lauren Devine. I'm adding this book to my favorite gardening books, for sure...since, once you harvest, you have to do something with all that produce, right?

I'm also thinking at trying my hand at making Blueberry Syrup. Never done that before. I found this recipe on the Ball FreshPreserving.com site:  Blueberry Syrup recipe.

So, let's do the math.  I will need 7 cups of blueberries for the Pie Filling recipe. And, I will need 8 cups of blueberries for the Blueberry Syrup recipe. That's 15 cups of blueberries I need!

Grow, blueberries, grow!

Happy hoeing!



Gardening Away

It's June...probably the most productive month in the garden. The tomatoes are turning from green to gold to red. The peppers are greening up. The squash are flowering and fruiting. You get the picture. All of this activity...and we are away.

We are visiting our daughter for a few days, so that part of being "away" is a good thing. She's a gardener, too, and her Zone 6 property sports a large herb garden, containers of flowers and veg, a couple of raised bed veggie gardens, and flowers, shrubs, and trees galore. It's always a treat to see how things have grown and changed since the last time we visited.

She reads extensively and puts many ideas into action, applying her own touches. One of the neatest ideas she implemented this year is a trellising system for her tomatoes. While the original source had a diagram-specific method of constructing the trellis, M bought two appropriate-height end-pieces and used an appropriate-length top beam from another project...and lots of garden twine, up and down. End result? No cuts! Brilliant! As you can tell from this picture, her tomato plants seem to love their new digs!

I also get to raid her library when I come for a visit. On this trip, I have enjoyed several gardening books and magazines, but I keep picking up one in particular.

Maureen Gilmer has written "The Small Budget Gardener," a handy how-to paperback on "saving money in your garden." The original printing was in the late 90's; this revised edition was printed in 2009. Geared to surviving and thriving in your garden in a tough economy, there are 11 chapters in three sections: Stretch Every Dollar, Environmental Cents, and Gratis — As it Should Be. My favorite of the moment? Making Babies: How to Propagate Free Plants. (Can you tell I've been trimming the chrysanthemums this week...and thinking about dividing all those iris?) While this isn't a step-by-step manual, you will find Tightwad Gardening Tips, checklists, pretty plant pictures, and well-illustrated ideas.  I like it!

So, when we return home, I'll be inspired to put some new ideas into action in our Gardens at home.

Happy hoeing!

Gardening from Inside Out

Even when you can't get outside into your garden, you can still increase your yield by taking stock of your situation and increasing your knowledge. It's review time!

Today, in addition to recapping and reviewing our garden situation, I'll share my comments of a recently-read book with you, Landscape Planning - Practical Techniques for the Home Gardener, by Judith Adam. As she advises on page 43 in the section entitled "Putting it Down on Paper," "you may appreciate seeing the broad picture," so I will take a brief detour...back to where it all began...and attempt to paint a picture with words.

A regular reader of these posts will know that we have been in the planning phase for the Way Back Garden for 3 years now. We took what was essentially a tabula rasa (literally a scraped slate) of a more-or-less square quarter acre on the rear of our suburban lot (the house, driveway, and front/back yards occupy approximately 1/2 acre) and designed four garden "rooms" in what we call the Way Back Garden or WBG.

You will also know that, while we own the property, we also have an easement on most of the WBG, to Duke Energy for their transmission lines. We count ourselves fortunate that it's just the lines that cross our Way Back...no towers...and that, as long as it is under 15 feet tall and not a water feature nor a permanent structure (as in a building), we are good to go!

The previous owners, who built the house and landscaped the front and a small portion of the back yards, just left the Way Back to nature. So when we bought the property in 5/2009, we set about polishing up this neglected jewel by first having it mowed and scraped of the tangle of weeds and brush.

While you might imagine that...with no trees on the Way Back itself (Duke Energy had just come through the easement and whacked down everything that was growing a few months prior to our purchase), that we would be talking about full sun, all day long. And you would be as wrong as I was!

There are giant trees on the north and south sides of this easement, creating what is essentially a huge alley-way, approximately 125 feet square. The Way Back is defined by 8-foot "privacy" wooden fences on both the east and west sides; by a 4-foot "picket" wooden fence with a center gate for access from our back yard on the south side; and by a fledgling ligustrum and forsythia hedge across the north property line. There is also currently a temporary "farm yard" wire fence immediately behind the hedge-row to protect the young bushes from the overly-enthusiastic children of the neighbors beyond.

It is probably good to note that we didn't "design" the fencing across the rear of the Way Back like this. Duke Energy gave their approval to construct the privacy fence down the east side of the property (the one on the west side was already in place, built by our neighbor several years ago), transecting the transmission line alley. But, for reasons that defy logic but conform to the letter of the law, they would NOT allow us to put a fence across the north side, or paralleling the transmission line alley.

Put you a nice hedge across there, said the Duke engineer with the thick NC accent, when we asked what we could do? Of course, hedges do not hinder hounds when they are on a scent, so we had to build the picket fence across the back yard to keep the Drool Gang from going off on routine walkabouts.

Hedges...especially young,growing bushes...do not keep rambunctious kids at bay either. So when we added the first fruit trees to the Orchard on the northwest side of the Way Back, we put up the "temporary" fencing to protect our investment. Two years later and it's still standing...and doing a good job of keeping "them" out and keeping the dogs in. But, I'm getting ahead of myself here...and planning is all about "order and method."*

Some of you will be starting out, much as we did, with a blank slate of certain dimensions. Some of you will already have a garden** in some state of completion, but not the Garden of Your Dreams. Either way, it all begins with your Master Plan. The Master Plan can be summed up as:

1. Define where you are today: Point A.
2. Decide where you want to be at some point in the Future: Point B.
3. Determine how you will get from Point A to Point B.

Think of it as a road map. Know that there may be several interim stops along the way from Point A to Point B. And, you may have to take detours and u-turns and breaks before you reach your final destination, the Garden of Your Dreams. But given time, resources, and determination to succeed...you will succeed!

One the resources you may want to tap is the wealth of information "out there" on designing and planning the Garden of Your Dreams.

Wikipedia says:

"Garden design is the art and process of designing and creating plans for layout and planting of gardens and landscapes. Garden design may be done by the garden owner themselves, or by professionals of varying levels of experience and expertise. Most professional garden designers are trained in principles of design and in horticulture, and have an expert knowledge and experience of using plants. Some professional garden designers are also landscape architects, a more formal level of training that usually requires an advanced degree and often a state license. Many amateur gardeners also attain a high level of experience from extensive hours working in their own gardens, through casual study, serious study in Master Gardener Programs, or by joining gardening clubs."

As a Master Gardener, I almost always begin with the written word, since we are trained to use research-based information. Of course, not everything you read is researched-based, but published works are a good place to start.

Judith Adam has written an excellent multi-purpose book for gardeners in Landscape Planning - Practical Techniques for the Home Gardener, Second Edition, published in 2008 by Firefly Publishing. "Practical" is the watchword. From her "Ten Point Property Assessment" to her many and varied "10 Best..." lists ("10 Best Drought Resistant Shrubs;" "10 Best Flowering Shrubs and When to Prune Them;" etc.), Adam has written a garden book that you will return to, long after you think you have achieved the Garden of Your Dreams.

As it relates to our current discussion about planning, though, I think she has outlined the definitive approach: create a multi-year plan. In her case (as well as my own), she has recommended a 4-Year plan, and has given an excellent example on page 46. There is also an exercise to help the reader write up a 4-Year Plan, beginning on page 48.
She made my practical and realistic self sing when she wrote: "Look carefully at what you want to accomplish and establish a logical sequence of events that maximizes all your resources." (p. 42) For instance, you will want to design and create the basic "bones" (hardscapes, such as paths, benches, fences, rock borders, etc.) of your garden before you start sticking pretty flowers here and there...unless you are willing to move those flowers or see them crushed by the wagon hauling the mulch for a new side path. (OK, lesson learned the hard way...:). Hardscapes, you ask? Adam's book not only helps you decide on what you need where and why, it gives you ideas of how to use specific plants to make the most of your investment.

The one weak spot is the paltry "Home Gardener's Reference Library," found on page 238...and it doesn't even fill the whole page. Please. While this book would be a valuable asset in any gardener's library, we trust there must be more than 16 in Ms. Adam's.

I checked today, but there is still no digital version (Kindle, Nook, iTunes, etc.) of this book available. Too bad. It is the perfect reference to be able to search and bookmark and highlight...and not have to heave it off your bookshelf. Still, I imagine lifting this hefty tome will help keep a gardener's arm muscles toned...in order to tackle items on the 4-Year Plan!

Happy hoeing...and reading!


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* "Order and method" is the way Agatha Christie's famous detective, Hercule Poirot solves all of life's mysteries. I'm certain he would approve of my using this approach to gardening.

** Although we in the USA usually use the word "garden" to describe the productive or Kitchen garden...and most often define the word further, i.e., rose garden, flower garden...as opposed to the "yard" or lawn-space, I am using the word to include all the outdoor areas of your property...vegetation as well as amenities.