We have heard blueberries could be hard to grow, but we are always up for new challenges.
Last year, we decided we wanted to add another perennial to our garden. We love to eat blueberries, so a blueberry bush was a great choice.
We purchased two dwarf blueberries plants form our local gardening shop, The Garden Center. We had only planned to purchase one. The tag on the first bush we chose stated it was self-pollinating but a gentlemen at The Garden Center told us all blueberry plants, even self-pollinating ones benefit from cross-pollination. The two dwarf blueberry plants we settled on were Brazel berries' Peach Sorbet and Jelly Bean. In addition to the tip about cross-pollination, the staff member at The Garden Center gave us a free guide about growing blueberries. We love how they have free resources available to help gardeners.
We placed the dwarf blueberry bushes in a 3' x 3' raised bed and amended the soil by adding sulfur, peat moss, and pine needles. Luckily, our neighbor has a pine tree and lots of needles fall onto our driveway. Although many resources promote the use of pine needles to help lower the acidity of the soil, after we added pine needles to our soil, we came across a few resources, included below, that states this is a myth.
Last, we placed mulch around the bushes and placed a pop-up pest cover over them to keep out squirrels and birds.
Hopefully, we will have a blueberry harvest this year. Time will tell.
Additional resources