we're skipping the blueberries (dreaming of spring)

I do love spring dreaming! We've all been sitting here recovering from the flu, with little energy for much more than poring over seed catalogs. I wanted to try blueberries SO badly this year! But I'm afraid of trying to overwinter them, and wasting the plants AND the space. So after much discussion we've decided this is one plant that's probably best for later.

That decision left us with an "unused" shallow planter. Since lettuce & leeks are both shallow-rooted, we "moved" them & added a square for red radishes. That left us with 5 "unused" squares in the deep bed, so we added a fourth square of carrots, and have decided to grow pole-beans in the remaining 4 squares.

Rather than surrounding the entire 6x12' deck with poultry fencing as we'd originally planned, we will be creating a covered 2x6' bed along one side, and using our existing metal grids to cover the smaller beds individually as we did last year. It'll cost less & be easier to build, and DH has promised to make the supports strong enough to hold 3 hanging strawberry pots as well

So for 2008, we will be planting:
4 mini-pumpkins in their big blue buckets

2 squares (18 plants) of leeks
1 square (16 plants) of radishes
and 3 squares (12 plants) of leaf-lettuce in the 2x3 bin that held tomatoes last year

2 cherry tomatoes, underplanted with garlic in a bin we emptied of Christmas "junk" this year

2 red & 2 purple bell peppers
4 squares (64 plants) of carrots
4 squares (32 plants) of pole-beans
3 pots (9 plants) of strawberries all in the covered 2x6 bed

and individual 3-5 gallon pots of:
Basil
Betony
Chive
Cilantro
Lavender
and Lemonbalm

I can't WAIT to start planting!!! Most of this year will be from seeds... which will save money, and the kids think are more fun
love,
mom

 

Blueberries - yum! They take a while to establish but if you plant them in the ground they will more or less take care of themselves and need a wee bit of pruning from time to time. They are quite hardy and survive here in Scotland!! However if there is a danger of a late frost - like anything else you would have to protect them.

We just planted our first crop - broad beans as usual - they are so hardy!! Kale will be next...

 

Just a quick PS: Try planting onions, garlic and shallots among the carrots - it helps stop carrot fly!

 

If I could grow blueberries in our ground, I would have them here in a heartbeat. Unfortunately the ground where we live is contaminated and NO edible plants are recommended. (sigh) So blueberries will have to wait 'til we can move - in another 2 years. I'm in US zone 4a - but in a very protected area, so I've had luck with plants that are supposed to be hardy through zone 5b. A container-bed of blueberries though seems like I'd be pushing my luck a bit too far.

I will definitely grow some sort of allium amongst the carrots. The kids have just informed me that they want a pair of trellises down in the yard to "hide" their cafe table behind, so we're going to grow our pole-beans there & rearrange our garden beds yet again! (I do love virtual-planning!)
love,
mom

 

That's a pity - but the two years will soon pass....

More companion planting ideas - chamomile among the onions to prevent fungus and neck rot...it works a treat and you have all that tea!!! Apart from that it makes the garden smell great!!

I have no idea about zones in the US - I live on the West Coast of scotland on a peninsular that is very exposed. Right now we have lashing rain and it is blowing a hoolie....and it's mild- gulf stream flowing by...

 

I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that you would be able to grow blueberries in containers with great success. Here's why; you already have a good bit of container growing experience and blueberries are considered easy to grow in containers. In fact some folks recommend it because blueberries require very special soil that has a real low pH. They need a pH of 4.5!!

You might want to check these two web sites before giving up the idea.
First, this one has lots of good general blueberry info. I would suggest read it top to bottom. Plus it has lots of other links for more info. http://growingtaste.com/fruit/blueberries.shtml

Second, this one shows & describes exactly how to do it and has lots of other good blueberry info links too: http://www.davewilson.com/homegrown/promotion/bluecontainer.html

Peace,
poor_old_dad

 

Ohhhh, THANK YOU!!! I've got some reading to do this evening! It would be SO nice to be able to surprise the kids with blueberries instead of radishes! Not that I don't like radishes or anything... but YAAY!

Thank you SO much for the links!
love,
mom

 

Well after thinking, reading & asking around I'm still just a bit worried about the blueberries. It's not the growing, but our harsh winters that bother me. The bin we would be growing in is too heavy to move, and after talking with Mom & her friends at Extension we just couldn't find a good way to overwinter the container without a garage or basement & a pair of brawny men at my disposal. (DH is many things, but LARGE he is not!) So... it's veggies galore for us this year. And strawberries, of course. I'll still have my blueberries in two years though, just you wait & see!


The kids have been begging all winter for a secret garden in our yard just adjacent to the garden-deck, and we've decided to pick up a few large containers (they're tractor bed-liners from a farm & garden store) to help create the illusion of privacy for them. Grandmom gave them a 7-foot "sunscreened" umbrella for Easter, and we are picking up a table & chair set from Craigslist tomorrow evening. After poring over ideas, this is what we have come up with... for the garden-deck AND their "secret" little corner

 

Wow, I want to see pictures once you get everything growing. The table and umbrella will give you all a welcome respite from the summer sun. I just put mine out again and pulled the cushions for the chairs out from winter storage. What a terrific gift.