Blueberry netting

Some ripening yet still green blueberries on my high bush blueberry bushes.

Did I mention that it is HOT here! Close to 100 degrees F the third day in a row. I guess it now officially qualifies as a heat wave. So Maine, and most of the Northeast is experiencing an official heat wave. But to be honest it looks like the garden is loving it! I go out each evening and look to see what I haven't mulched yet with compost or straw and give it a drink of water that is diluted with either fish emulsion or liquid sea weed in it. And I must say that the garden looks to be enjoying this heat as it all looks good. (Except for those blasted peas!; remember the peas?)

Last night in this heat Ger and I went out and netted the blueberries. I was getting a bit testy because 1) I hate the heat and 2) the netting structure wasn't what I had in mind at all. I jumped in the pool and things looked better. That made Ger happier too.
I do notice that the three bushes at the far end get a bit more shade from a large lilac bush and seem to be struggling more than the other bushes. Not sure if I should dig them up next year and transplant them or just let them be. What do you think? Anyway, here's a picture of the blueberries and netting.
In this picture you can see the blueberry bushes inside the very crude netting structure. I definitely want to work on the materials and design of this for next year. In front of the bushes are some thyme plants. I planted them because the bushes are on quite a slope and I was worried about erosion. Even though I mulch, the erosion is noticeable. Thyme is a nice spreading low growing herb and it seems to be filling in and doing a good job at controlling the erosion. I do weed them back away from the blueberry bushes though because we don't want plants of any sort competing with the blueberry bushes for water or nutrients.

When I planted the blueberry bushes three years ago I chose this spot because I read that blueberries like good drainage. They also like a slightly acidic soil so I didn't add any lime. Instead I added peat moss. I struggle with the use of peat moss because it's harvested from wet bogs in Canada. So I use it very sparingly. This was the first time I used peat moss in my garden and I haven't used it since. Just something to think about. Here's a very short blub on Peat Moss: http://www.peatmoss.com/pm-what.php Then I dug in compost and planted. The first two years I picked the flowers off the bushes so no berries would develop. That sends needed energy that would be used to produce fruit back down into the developing roots. I also spread compost around after a good rain. That worked as fertilizer and mulch. This is year three and the first year I'm allowing the bushes to produce blueberries!

This year I will prune the bushes. I haven't done that yet so will write about it after I do it.

More about blueberries as they develop.
Enjoy your garden!
Mary