Lesson 179: Blueberries, Y'all. Not a Baby!

Sorry to disappoint, friends, but this past blog post was not a baby announcement!

Apparently the cryptic "lesson learned" failed to get my point across, as multiple friends have quietly asked if I am expecting due to its wording. The baby kisses spoken of will be administered by my already living babies, Samara and Hudson. 2-year old kisses still involve a significant amount of slobber, reminiscent of baby years. And well, despite birthdays passing, these two are still my babies.

So, just to be clear. No to a new baby, but yes to ... blueberries.

How anticlimactic!

(In an utterly defeated manner I announce) 2014 is the year of blueberries in the Ashbaugh family ... and oh my, yum!

We began with big, yet simple plans. Our original goal was to line our driveway with the bushes, sort of haphazard-like, covering the sight of a messy, overgrown field and providing our kiddos with nutritious, inexpensive fun! Easy as the pie I was going to bake with the harvest.

But y'all, clearly planting blueberries isn't as easy as that, or everyone would have them! No, no, Mr. Jack of Mr. Jack's farm set our thinking straight and learned us a thing or two.

Things We've Learned About Blueberries: 

1. Two breeds of blueberry bushes should be planted together for one of three reasons.
     a. They cross-pollinate.
     b. They attract the right birds / bees that help cross-pollinate, or
     c. They act as natural pesticides for one another.

I am not sure which of these answers is correct, but one of them is. Therefore, we purchased two breeds of blueberry bushes, Northern Highland and Chandler.

We also bought a blackberry bush.

2. Blueberries should be planted on slightly raised soil with good access to water and plenty of sunshine.

3. Blueberries need to be planted near a fence. As the branches grow, they climb and wrap around the fence enabling better access to multiple branches.

4. When fruiting, blueberries should be covered with a net. Otherwise, the berries are being grown for the birds.

5. Blueberry bushes produce fruit only three weeks each year. However, you can choose breeds which will fruit at various times throughout the summer. We aren't sure if we spread out our crop or not.

If all goes well, come May we should have bushels and bushels of perfectly sweet, ever-so-beautiful, delicious and mavelous blueberries!

To reiterate, we are so excited for our crop ... of blueberries.

(Pictures coming soon!)


Lesson Learned: When you want people to know you are talking about buying blueberry bushes, do not mention the word baby in your lesson learned.