Tips For First Time Gardener's

[wupham]

Be sure to get a soil test just to see where your nutrients and pH are. In Kansas, our soils are naturally high in potassium and low in phosphorus. However, our garden soils are usually high in both as people have fertilized for years. I'm sure your virgin soils in Maine are quite different but it is helpful to have a base line before adding amendments.

It is always a good idea to mix compost and soil rather than making a thick layer of compost on top of soil as roots do not like to move from one to the other or even one soil type to another.

By the way, raised beds are a great way to grow vegetables. You have excellent drainage so water doesn't sit, super aeration for a healthy root system and hopefully few weed seeds.

 

[pitt_md]

Never plant cantalope in an old barnyard with out first building a heavy duty containment fence. One plant = 47 mellons and vines everywhere. I had the garden enclosed with a chicken wire fence attached to steel "T" posts. The mellon vines grew up on fence and the fruit got so heavy the fence was pulled to the ground.

 

[Dennisfly]

rcrcomputing mentioned that wood ashes will raise the PH. Will leaf ashes do the same?

 

[lakngulf]

Now THAT is a raised bed. I've not done a bed that is completely off the ground. Did you put plastic on the outside or something to help them not lose to much moisture? Or you think maybe they'll have more moisture as the lake evaporates?? Hmm, interesting experiment! Let me know how that works out for you.

Working great so far. I did not put anything on the sides other than the boards you see. Underneath I put tin on top of the 2x6 floor boards to try and keep them from rotting too quickly. I figure I can just replace the side boards. I have an irrigation sprinkler system to keep them watered.

Here are a couple of shots of the maters this morning.

 

[Sniggle]

Blueberries are not really that tough, but they do require love and attention.

Choose the right spot for blueberries. The do best in direct sunlight. The do not do well if their feet stay wet. This makes a small ridge or hill the perfect place to plant them, so the water will not collect and sit in and around the blueberries.

As has been mentioned, the first requirement is acidic soil. A PH of 5 will grow them well. If your sil is not acidic, you can amend it with garden sulfer to bring the PH down.

Do not mix in manure into the blueberry soil...they don't do well in it unless you let the soil sit for a year after mixing it. Planting blueberries in a 50% peat moss/50% soil mix works well, and the peat moss is acidic. Make the hole large so they have room to grow.

Watering: Blueberries are killed easily in draught (shallow roots). They need to be watered weekly if it does not rain. If roots dry out they will die.

Surface prep: I am a bid advocate of pine bark mulch or pine straw. Slightly acidic, breaks down over time to enrich the soil, and most importantly holds in moisture. 3+ inches of mulch should be all around the plants.

Fertilizer: You can not give them normal fertilizer, for it will kill them. They need an ammonia or urea based fertilizer. You should also periodically provide the bed some sulfur to keep the PH down.

Sounds complicated, but it is not really that hard. And if you do good prep, in a few years you will have more blueberries than you know what to do with

 

[wupham]

Dennisfly asked if leaf ashes will raise the pH. Yes they will. In pioneer days, wood ashes were used to make lye water (very alkaline) which was used to make soap.