Farm Notes
Woke up to a hard frost this morning, which made everything shimmer in the golden sunrise. (It also meant that the waterer for the chickens was frozen shut, because I forget to empty it out the night before, so that was fun.) It’s still pretty wet out from the record amount of rain we’ve received this month, so today was another “office” day. I’m excited to report that we’ve ordered our blueberries! This winter we are planting a small blueberry patch inside the market garden space, and I’ve been doing lots of research since I’m totally new to growing berries. So y’all are going to learn right along with me, ya dig?
Well, first things first, I’ve learned that there are two main types of blueberries – rabbiteye and highbush, and in our area of North Carolina, rabbiteye varieties grow the best. Blueberries prefer to grow in low pH soil, on well-drained sites that get plenty of sunshine. We are going to plant 4 different rabbiteye varieties, which I’ve chosen because they will fruit at slightly different times throughout the summer, so we’ll have an extended harvest window. Here are the varieties we’ve chosen (with descriptions written by Finch Blueberry Nursery, where we sourced our plants from):
Climax – Climax is an early ripening berry that produces medium fruit with a sweet flavor and is best fr harvesting a larger quantity of berries. Climax growth is upright with intense green foliage. Pollinators: Alapaha, Austin, Premier
Premier – Premier is an early to mid season producer with large fruit that possesses excellent flavor. Premier is highly productive. Plant grows upright with good foliage.
Tifblue – Tifblue is a mid seasoning ripening plant with medium to large berries. Tifblue is an upright vigorous grower. Tifblue leaves turn red in the fall making it a good ornamental plant. Pollinator: Brightwell, Powder Blue
Powderblue – Powderblue is a late season, highly productive blueberry plant with medium to large sweet fruit. Plants tend to grow upright with good foliage. Pollinator: Tifblue
We’ve been prepping the 24ft x 45 ft space that we’re dedicating to the blueberry patch by laying down a tarp (to suppress grass/weeds) for several months, and over the next week or two we’ll build three 45ft long beds, by loosening the soil with a broadfork, and adding compost and other amendments.
Here’s a photo of a (very rough) layout for this space:
There will be 10ft between each row, and 5ft between the plants within each row (so 9 plants in each row). The key is to give the plants enough room for their foliage to expand in the summer months, and give yourself enough room to pick the berries.
We will be laying down landscape fabric and mulching around the plants and between the rows, to make the space as low-maintenance and weed-free as possible.
For a fabulous resource about growing blueberries here in North Carolina, here’s a great guide from NC State.
Do y’all have any specific questions about growing blueberries that I can help answer? As I mentioned, I’m new to this, but we can learn together!
Kitchen Notes
Matthew is away for the night, which means I had a bowl of cereal for dinner, and it was AWESOME. I should mention that my bowls of cereal are a little #extra… i.e. I like to “season” cereal with Maldon salt, cinnamon, cardamom, a few dollops of greek yogurt, some granola, a banana, etc… anyone else with me?
Today’s Stats
Low temp: 27F
High temp: 56F
Sunrise: 7:28am
Sunset: 5:24pm
Moon phase: Waxing Crescent
Additional notes: Hard frost in the AM, blue skies and sunny.