Blueberries and mud

Blueberry I hope my poor, malingering blueberries will malinger no more! The little things haven't had much going for them in the two years they've been in the yard. I bought them for a few bucks at Wal-Mart when they'd barely grown a root apiece, then I stuck them in sweet soil and mulched them with nitrogen-leaching wood chips.

I'm hoping to remedy the damage with a little TLC. Yesterday I treated them to some soil acidifier, as well as a nice mulch of mixed pine needles and decidous leaf mould from the hill above the house. I also used a gift certificate to order a few larger plants from a more reputable nursery. The pullets are busy scratching up and fertilizing the new ground in preparation for our second round of blueberries' arrival this spring.
Grain seeds in Lucy's track
I also decided to experiment a bit with the mudhole between the nectarine and grapes. The soil there is pure clay and in our recent wet spell the chickens churned it up into a mass of mud. I found some old grain seeds hidden behind my desk and sowed them in the muddiest spots. If I remember right, the grain is rye, meant to be planted in early fall as a cover crop. But maybe it'll do something to hold the soil together and outcompete the Japanese honeysuckle which is what naturally grows in that area. Only time will tell...

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