How are the veggies coming along?

[Ty Korrigan]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R1x4JkZTfPs

[Ty Korrigan]

I can't put my finger on how to hand pollinate this...

[peds]

10 hours ago, Ty Korrigan said:

 

The kids are mad for soft fruit, strawberries and raspberries and especially myrtilles/blue berries which will take some skill to get right.

 

A lot of reading I've done suggests keeping blueberries and bilberries in big tubs unless you are already on their favourite soil type, so you can control their fairly-fussy environmental needs more closely. 

A common trick out here in Ireland is to mulch them with the long-rotted contents of old windrows in spruce forestry.

[5thelement]

13 minutes ago, peds said:

A lot of reading I've done suggests keeping blueberries and bilberries in big tubs unless you are already on their favourite soil type, so you can control their fairly-fussy environmental needs more closely. 

A common trick out here in Ireland is to mulch them with the long-rotted contents of old windrows in spruce forestry.

There are some of the earliest Blueberry cuttings from America in the National Pinetum In Kent. Planted on a bit of scrub/heather Heathland with high Scots Pine canopy, they do fine and I would regularly harvest them when doing felling work there.

I had soil specific raised beds solely for them in my old place in the UK, kids ate them all before I even got a look in.

[peds]

That's the spirit, molly coddle the roots off of them. Drown them in acid.

 

When I was planting for forestry I dug a wild bilberry out of the ground next to a patch of mature spruce, stuck it in an empty whip bag and carried it around with me until the walk back to the vans for tea. The stand was harvested later that year and all of the bilberry's relatives dead. The one I kept is still in a big tub, waiting for the chance to be set free under a suitable tree, along with a couple of cowberries. The kids can't leave them alone during the season. No jam has ever been made.

[sime42]

I'll third this children and blueberries thing, they bloody love them. My son will strip our four plants in a couple of minutes if we let him. It's easier to net them against blackbirds.

I keep them in large tubs, to cater for their appetite for acid. I planted them in an ericaceous soil/compost mix and also add acidic stuff sometimes, coffee grounds, conifer chippings, pine needles etc. They seem to thrive. Keeping them pretty wet helps too, they love water.

I'd rate blueberries as my favourite soft fruit I think. Easy to cultivate, (once you've done the above), very heavy cropping, no insect pests that I've seen and tasty.

 

 

[nepia]

And yet only a few years ago there were three acres of commercially grown blueberries just outside Redhill on sloping south facing ground on chalk down. Presumably the topsoil received much attention.

All gone now as the growers decided that 4x4 trails and a rural pursuits park was more profitable than what had been a very good and popular pick-your-own farm.

The owner told me that the next nearest commercial blueberries were in Dorset

[Peasgood]

I only ever hear of blueberry growers closing, going out of business, going bust, losing lots of money.

This has been the same for the last 30 years or more but have heard more lately. Heard of a big one up north closing last year due to lack of pickers and customers.

[Ty Korrigan]

I'm going to send a soil sample away for analysis which will give me more than just a pH reading.

I can then fine tune an area for just for blueberrie.

 I noticed that during last years drought, the grass that was there browned off late compared to other areas and when I had a soil survey done for my sewage system, the report said the water table was fairly high.

However, the soil itself is a sandy loam with no drainage issues and decent water retention, probably from years of sheep and I suspect vegetable cultivation. 

[openspaceman]

10 hours ago, nepia said:

The owner told me that the next nearest commercial blueberries were in Dorset

There is a farm adjacent to the railway at Milford station, Surrey, blueberries in tubs are set out for the summer season and I think they overwinter them packed tight into poly tunnels.