Our Own Blueberry Patch

Although we haven't ever talked about having blueberry bushes, when the farm down the road decided to go out of business and sell their mature bushes for $20 each, we decided to give it a try. 

We picked what we think is the sunniest spot in the yard and Bill got all the grass dug out on Saturday, 9/3.  

We bought ten bags of top soil and a bag of peat moss to work into the soil.  We had planned to borrow the neighbor's rototiller but when Bill went to ask to use it, he came home empty handed...it was already loaned out.  Crap!  He started tilling it by hand but decided that was just too much work, so we went to Home Depot and bought a tiller attachment for his Ryobi grass trimmer.  Genius!

We finished it up on Sunday before heading out on a bike ride with Wendy and Dan.  I placed some old landscape bricks where I thought the bushes would go.  

Someone is enjoying the nice warm dirt.

Bill borrowed Dan's trailer yesterday and headed over about 4:30, to find himself the 29th car in line! They had posted on their Facebook page that they would be digging plants up after 5:00 but everyone had the same idea...get there sooner, not later.  He didn't get home until about 6:20 and I hadn't gone along because I wasn't feeling well. 

Thankfully, we only wanted three bushes...they are a LOT bigger than I anticipated!

The plan was to drag the bush down onto the board.  Although we were advised that each bush weighs between 200-250 pounds, Bill says that sucker weighed about 700!  On to Plan B.  Bill had to use the tow hook on my car and an old climbing rope to drag it off.

Well, its not pretty but atleast it's off the trailer.

Success

One down, two to go.  At least that was the biggest one.

Two down, better hurry, it's getting dark.  

Finally done at 7:15.  The last one was the smallest and the easiest to get off the trailer.  I say it was easy; I watched while Bill pulled the darn thing off with his bare hands.

After adding all that nice top soil and getting it mixed in, we decided we would have to move it all off because the plants would sit way too high otherwise.  So that's what I did this morning while Bill was in the clinic.

It's hard to see but the soil in the center is several inches higher than the grass.

Always good to have a supervisor on the job.

When Bill got home we spent the next two hours moving them into their new homes, which sounds a lot easier than it was.  Bill had to use a come-along, as well as the car to get the two bigger ones into the hole; we were able to drag the smaller one by hand.  Then they required some repositioning and fill to get them to stand up straight.  

Mission accomplished a little after 4:00.

There is still a little more work to do along the edges but we watered them in really well and once the dirt is settled, we'll finish up.  

That was a ton of work, I hope we can both move in the morning...those suckers better grow blueberries!!!

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)