Or how we learned about amending the soil
I’ve always loved the idea of having a blueberry bush. I have fond memories of going picking with my family when we were younger, and I love to eat blueberries. Unfortunately, that is not something they cover in marriage prep, and I learned the hard way that Evan did not like blueberries at all. Something quite the opposite of me—he had bad memories of picking blueberries.
When we bought the farm with the apple trees almost ready to pick, i hadn’t yet thought about other plantings we would make. I knew we would need to replace our trees eventually, but I didn’t really think about other fruit plans. Evan was talking about our hopes and dreams for the property to a friend, and they actually convinced him to add blueberries to our list. And so our blueberry planning began.
My research started with soil, space, and a place to purchase young bushes. MSU Extension is a wealth of resources for most of our agricultural needs, and I started there. Blueberries require lots of sun, and we thought we had a perfect spot. They also require what is considered a relatively high acidity for garden plants.
Evan and I measured out the distance between each bush, and we cut sod out for mini-raised beds. I researched and bought this soil test kit from the local hardware store. It is very easy to use with clear directions, and includes additives to test for not only pH but nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. I collected dirt samples from three different holes. All three tests came back as VERY alkaline. I was disappointed to be sure. We were hopeful that our soil would be at least slightly neutral so we wouldn’t need a lot of amending.
Now, you may ask, why amend the soil if you are making raised beds? We weren’t planning on very tall beds, and full expect that once the bushes reach maturity, their root systems would be creeping into our dirt. So now we are on the hunt for fool-proof methods to create a more acidic environment for our bushes so that when they arrive in the spring, they will be able to adjust well and flourish.
If you have any recommendations for us, we welcome tips and tricks! I’d love to hear about others’ experience growing blueberries or amending soil for more acid-loving plants.