What did you do in the garden today?

[CluckerFamily]

Oh!? I heard just the opposite. Pine needles are acidic, which is what blueberries need. Help, Google?

I googled it! Pine needles and mulch are great for blueberry plants, the only thing to avoid is dyed mulch.

 

[chickengr]

Oh!? I heard just the opposite. Pine needles are acidic, which is what blueberries need. Help, Google?

pine contains resins and that is not good for garden. at least that is what I have been told. when I use pine needles in my coop I do throw them in the garden. I guess chicken manure can fix anything.

 

[Sueby]

Yep- that is how I feel. Next year, will use fresh dirt and put the squash and zucchini in separate containers- away from the garden.

That's where I'm at this year, dirt that hasn't seen squash & all squash are away from the garden. I've picked off 2 of them & a batch of eggs so far. I also bought sevin this year (haven't used it yet) & I NEVER use anything toxic but it got so bad last year it creeped me out to even pick squash. Nothing touches the squash bugs when they get that bad. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.


Thanks for all the suggestions on the beef broth. I ended up with 3 ziplocks with 6 cups in each, 8 one cups & 2 not sure the size containers. That should be a good variety.


I'm loving all the pics! It's so fun to see where everyone is at.

I took a walk this am, I have teeny tomatoes on both the sungold & brandywines, I have flowers on the cukes, flowers on the peppers, beans that are about 2 inches long, purple coneflowers popping, dahlias coming up everywhere, garlic that's just about ready to pull & strawberries that put out runners! A good walk thru the garden.

Now strawberry people, I left room for each plant to have 2 runners as suggested by the farm I got them from - my beds are mulched with straw, what do I do with the runners? They just sprout roots at the end of the runner? Maybe just clear a little spot of the mulch & it will do its thing?

 

[Sueby]

@TJAnonymous have you tested the soil that the blueberries are in? I sent out a soil sample the other day & it was 12 bucks. They'll tailor it to whatever you're growing in it if you want also. Maybe you could find something like that? I hope you can figure something out for them.

My blueberry bushes are mulched with wood chips & have been for a few years & they're doing pretty well.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. Love the garden photos. I'm still running behind due to weird weather, but things are picking up now. My poor dead apple tree is growing shoots at the base. I know if I let it grow back it likely will not end up as a Cortland apple tree, but I just might let it grow anyway. My fig tree is looking healthier this year so I'm hoping I can get a few figs from it. I plan to start on the new rooster pen today. This should go pretty quick and having DD around to hold the wall frames while I assemble them will make my work much easier. There are more blooms on the potato plants so when we finally run out of grocery store potatoes I can start on the homegrown ones. Have a great day.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

Just some weeding today. Right now they are predicting 6 inches of rain over the weekend. I wouldn’t mind but #1 the tomatoes are just starting to ripen and #2 I had plans to go to the lake. Looks like I will be staying home and picking green tomatoes.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Oh!? I heard just the opposite. Pine needles are acidic, which is what blueberries need. Help, Google?

I thought the same as you... I thought it helped the acidity to use pine.

 

[Elyrian1]

My grandparents had a large blueberry patch for several decades. Sandy soil under old oak trees, lots of leaf litter. I don't think they did anything particularly special, but the patch was in full shade. I'm starting to think blueberries don't like sun a whole lot. Our soil here is a whopping 8.5 or some such. I don't even intend to try growing them. I'd be watering with second day coffee grounds all the time if I did try though.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I googled it! Pine needles and mulch are great for blueberry plants, the only thing to avoid is dyed mulch.

Good to know. I haven't used dyed mulch. Last year I did buy pine bark mulch, but it was natural. Since then I've gotten two dump truck loads of free mulch which is mostly pine.

The pine needles I used came from the business next door to my house. They had 5 or 6 GIANT pine trees that lined their property. They cut them down last winter to build a new building. I was so sad to see that....

 

[TJAnonymous]

@TJAnonymous have you tested the soil that the blueberries are in? I sent out a soil sample the other day & it was 12 bucks. They'll tailor it to whatever you're growing in it if you want also. Maybe you could find something like that? I hope you can figure something out for them.

My blueberry bushes are mulched with wood chips & have been for a few years & they're doing pretty well.

I haven't yet but I REALLY need to... I should have some time at lunch today to run some soil samples down to the extension office. I live 30-40 minutes one way from the extension office and I usually can't get away from work that long.