The bushes and trees in the back garden are starting to come alive again!! Paige is super excited...she treats the trees and bushes she planted last season like her babies (she's gonna read this and be all like "Mom!!! please!" ) But it's true. She clucks and gushes over them, and is protective of them, and it reminds me of the way she is with her kids!! She and her husband William take care of everything in the back garden, and I am responsible for the front garden, so I'll be posting some pics of the front too, after a while. Anyway, here are her latest labors of love. I think this is the raspberry bush, just starting to leaf out. And this, I believe, is the cherry blossom tree. And finally we have blueberry flowers. I think I ascribed the right names to the right pictures....and if not, you know Paige will swoop down like an avenging angel and correct me!
Tell her to cluck and gush all she wants---I do that myself (at every step in the season), and have learned to not be ashamed. In my own defence, I will say that it is the sign of a truly committed and serious gardener who wants to be successful and has a great place in their heart for plants in particular and nature in general. Nothin' wrong with that, izzit. Those are good pics and I can see that you guys are further along than we here. My blues are; for instance, still in the bud. Which type of blueberry bush is that one, Ronnie? I enjoyed this posting so much.
Thanks And...er....I have no clue about what type of blueberry bush it is...I didn't even know there were "types" of blueberry bushes. Hmmmm.........Paige?
No, I have no desire to hide how much I cluck over the back yard.. It borderlines on obsession, actually. I get pretty clucky over the grass too. We built our house 4 years ago, and started from scratch with just dirt in the backyard. This is the first year we have a REAL lawn, that allows for "striping" and looks pretty darn lush if I do say so myself. But it's still somewhat patchy in areas and it drives me crazy. Constantly brainstorming how to counteract the dog pee, the kid traffic, the weeds.. It's bad, y'all! Anyways, yes. The fruit bushes and cherry tree showing signs of life are keeping me very entertained while I not-so-patiently wait for our tulip and oak trees to do the same, since they're still sleeping. The cherry tree is a Lapins, can't remember what type of raspberries off the top of my head, and the blueberries in the photo are Blue Ridge. We got a whopping 3 berries last year, so the 30-40 flowers currently on the bush are pretty exciting. We also have a Jersey blueberry bush that I believe has succumbed to some kind of fungus and won't be coming back, so I'll likely be ordering another pollinator to replace it soon. Any suggestions welcome.
Good Lord! I know you're my kid an' all, but I had no idea you actually knew all that stuff....*I* didn't even know that blueberries and raspberries actually have different names/strains. Good job, baby girl!!
Looking good Paige! Ronni - Isn't it great when our kids discover the joy of gardening? My daughter bought her first house in October of last year, and is starting to discover it too
Hey There Paige, Obsessive??---Sounds like my kind of gardener. chortle. Anyhow, about blueberries: You could have a look at this old posting of mine. Just scroll down. http://www.gardenstew.com/threads/blueberry-bush-suggestions.18538/ It is true that newly planted blueberry bushes typically do not yield enough to make jam from the first coupla years. Ach, but they do give a handful to munch on and gloat. It will come if you take good care of them. I have some fairly strong opinions on care based upon my own experience, but I am sure that you have read-up on the planting and care of these wonderful fruit bushes already. I will just say that the two most important things to remember is moisture and pH. Moisture --Keep them moist and even give extra water during hot and droughty spells. NOT and NEVER tap water. Tap water has amounts of Chlorine and Calcium, which you do not want in your blueberry patch...at all. So then, what do do? What kind of water then? Rainwater. When your collected rainwater runs out then tap water that you let sit out and open for 2-5 days before using. The Chlorine will evaporate, and the calcium will sink...to a degree. I hope this helps. Good luck further with your Blues. Why all this purist puss-pass? The enemies of Blueberry bushes are an alkaline pH (calcium) and dryness. Do your best to keep these conditions correct and your bushes ought to healthy and productive for you. This brings me directly to the second point, pH. The proper pH of the growing milieu of the blueberry bush is acidic. Keep it acidic by adding a layer of bagged commercial rhododendron or azalea soil topped with pine bark chips. Just amend every year or two. You also asked about blueberry types. You can read in that thread that I gave you the link to above the various types that I have. I have tried and discarded several. Now I have winners and I conservatively hang on to what I know. One exception is the new American development--the pink blueberry --Vaccinium corymbosum 'Pink Lemonade'. I bought three of these three years ago now, before they hit the Dutch commercial market. I was just lucky enough to hit it off with an importer and they allowed me to buy three specimens. I have not been sorry. They will for the first time produce enough berries to do something with. I have jamming plans for them. You may want to try and get hold of at least one of these. Select your specimens carefully to get the strongest plants possible. Good luck with your Blues, Paige. If you ever want to talk plants i am open to that. Don't be shy.
Page Hydrogen Peroxide is great for killing some types of fungus. Our Peach trees had leaf curl fungus develop on them 3 years ago. I got out the HP and put it in a hand held sprayer and doused them several times with it. It took care of the fungus. Now I spray them every year to be on the safe side. I wish I had know that several years ago when the Raspberries where attacked by Orange fungus. I hate using chemicals so I did nothing for them. They did not survive the attack. They where a variety that had a patten on them by the grower we bought them from. We have two Blue Berry bushes that have been doing pretty good for several years now. During the winter we need to put fences around them as the rabbits here love to eat them. We have a lot of White Pine needles that we put around them for mulch and it helps to keep the soil more acidic. Every spring we need to put bird netting around them, or we would not have a Blue Berry to eat. Makes me hopping as the Robins will peck a hole in the berry and then not eat it.
