Building Blueberry Hill- progress to date

Blueberry Hill

The story of blueberry hill- so far I've completed about 10 feet, but the blueberries are planted, along with their friends.

March 19-the hill is frosted with the green of the first leaves of clover- six blueberry plants of three varieties crown the hill. Front edge is planted with onion sets, and there are pre-emergent snow peas planted behind.

The logs for the front edge, felled and left by the previous owner, were towed in by my garden tractor, with the help of this dolly I rigged up. This rig can go places the truck cannot go without getting stuck.

 

Assembling the planter over a place where water seeps out of the ground in winter. The seep is caused by the water table being raised by water falling on massive hills to the north.

The first step is collecting rotten wood from the forested part of the property. Here, Edgar, my helper/ protege, is transferring wood from the truck to the cart to transfer to the bed.

Here is the hugelkultur- inspired growbed with its 12+ inches of wood at its base. This wood, once broken down, will serve to soak up and store winter water and release it in the summer, plus add nutrition to the soil in years to come.

Once wood was stacked, the spaces were filled with sawdust to lessen settling.

After sawdust, a layer of plain topsoil was added, and a thin layer of manure to help supply nitrogen for further breaking down of the wood.

Finally a thick layer of special soil (pot grower's surplus) which has been highly amended.

Planting goes on with six blueberry plants that have been heeled in to temporary storage for months. Six plants of three varieties for redundancy in the required cross fertilization.

March 19 shows the heavy sowing of crimson clover is just coming up. The hill is mounded high- the clover will help to hold the soil until the mound settles and provide extra nitrogen.

On the edges I have planted onion sets. Maybe they will deter moles. Maybe not. You can see one precocious sprout among the emergent clover. Also there are snap peas planted heavily in back of the blueberries, but they haven't come up yet.

Further planting will proceed as the bed makes progress.  For the next section I have bought a half-dozen currant bushes of red, white, and black.  Maybe there will be a place for artichokes as well.