Blueberrries!
This year has been a bunk year for my garden. I bought some topsoil for my raised beds and unfortunately it was very sandy and low in organic content. And it had glass in it. I was totally ripped off but now I'm stuck with it. But I'm going on with it, and plan to plant some blueberries in 4 4 X 4 beds (one bush per bed - I considered two but I think one will spread out if I'm patient).
So, I had my soil tested (for free! if you are in the US you can get your soil tested for free via the USDA extension service, I think that is true for all of the country) so I could find out the acidity of my soil. This test told me that the Ph is at 6.6, a little high for blueberries. And that the potash is about 0, and the N is about 2 which is not a surprise, I know the soil needs a lot of organic matter to get it in shape.
I'm wondering about amendments for the blueberries, the USDA folks recommended a 8-0-24 fertilizer. And I thought blueberries didn't like a lot of potash? So I'm thinking I'm going to go with a lot cotton seed meal and peat moss with a mulch of pine needles. However, I'm not thrilled about the peat, given that its not really an environmentally happy option (peat bogs are a limited resource)- is there another organic acidifying option? The things I've read suggest iron sulfate and aluminum sulfate as well, which I'm a little leery about but given the poor quality of the soil maybe its a good idea?
Thanks for any blueberry advice you care to give, folks!
So, I had my soil tested (for free! if you are in the US you can get your soil tested for free via the USDA extension service, I think that is true for all of the country) so I could find out the acidity of my soil. This test told me that the Ph is at 6.6, a little high for blueberries. And that the potash is about 0, and the N is about 2 which is not a surprise, I know the soil needs a lot of organic matter to get it in shape.
I'm wondering about amendments for the blueberries, the USDA folks recommended a 8-0-24 fertilizer. And I thought blueberries didn't like a lot of potash? So I'm thinking I'm going to go with a lot cotton seed meal and peat moss with a mulch of pine needles. However, I'm not thrilled about the peat, given that its not really an environmentally happy option (peat bogs are a limited resource)- is there another organic acidifying option? The things I've read suggest iron sulfate and aluminum sulfate as well, which I'm a little leery about but given the poor quality of the soil maybe its a good idea?
Thanks for any blueberry advice you care to give, folks!