The winter red beauty of blueberries can make a dramatic statement in your garden of edible plants. In early spring, I will be moving these delicious Southern Highbush 'Sharpblue' blueberries out of their current large containers to my front border garden this spring. 

 

Blueberries are easy to grow, have few pest issues, but do require certain conditions:

1. Buy blueberry cultivars that are recommended for your area.
2. Blueberries need to have acidic pH levels of 4.0 - 5.5 for healthy    growth.
3. Blueberry plants should have at least 4 - 5 hours of sunlight and good air circulation.
4. Fertilize blueberries with 8-4-8 in April, June, August, and October.  Sunniland's Azalea + Camellia Fertilizer is an excellent fertilizer formulated for Florida's soils.
5. When your blueberries are mature, (3 - 5 years) do not be afraid to prune (top) your blueberry bushes by 1/4th, so that there are no canes that are older than three to four years old.   
6. No need to overwater, blueberries need 1" - 1.5" of water a week during the summer.  If no rainfall, provide supplemental irrigation.

Check out new Southern Highbush cultivars for Florida at the Florida Foundation Seed Producers, Inc.

University of Florida's Blueberry Gardener's Guide.

Blueberries as Ornamentals in Edible Landscaping

More University of Florida Blueberry research on cultivars

Vegetable Garden Planted

Well, its done!  Our front yard, in the unused portion of our driveway, is now home to our vegetable gardening.  Due to the large oaks and "North Carolina" themed landscape in the backyard, the front and side yard is one of our sunniest locations.

We used a pre-cut cedar raised bed product from Home Depot. At approximately $80, the raised beds were reasonably priced factoring saving time, labor, and cost versus buying the materials and sacrificing to the wood gods. We also reused our cleaned aluminum tubs and rectangular plastic containers from springtime.

We checked last season's low-volume irrigation, changing out the emitter heads for good distribution uniformity.

What are we expecting to harvest from our edible landscaping?

First bed:

• Pasillo Bajio Chile Peppers
• Cow Horn Peppers
• NuMex Joe E Parker Peppers
• Cubanelle Peppers
• Ancho/Poblano Peppers

Second bed:

• Supersweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes
• Cherokee Purple Tomatoes
• Beefsteak Tomatoes
• Aunt Ruby's German Green Tomatoes
• Grape Tomatoes (saved from the grocery bought tomatoes)

How many tomatoes does it take?  Check out how you measure your fresh tomatoes for your cooking recipes.

First Tub:

• Gourmet Baby Greens Mesclun Lettuce
• Bibb Lettuce

Second Tub:

• Bloomsdale Spinach
• Red Malabar Spinach

Rectangle container:

• Onions
• Leeks

We only used half or less of the seed packets so we will save the seeds in dry envelopes and place them in our refrigerator to keep for spring.  As the plants emerge, we will thin them out and place some in containers for our children and the neighborhood, and keep some for our table.

We have to wait about ten days to see any green shoots! Will be taking photos from sprouting through harvesting.  Let us know how your vegetable gardening is doing.  We'll post your photos.

Florida Fall Foliage

Wonderful change of season into autumn much earlier this year in Central Florida showcases reds, purples, yellows, and orange. Enjoy these sceneries of native virginia creeper, sweet gum, persimmon, black cherry, sumac, and sycamore trees.

Want fall color in your backyard? Check out Hernando County Florida Native Plant Society Trees.

Autumn Foliage at Virginia Tech

Enjoy the music and beautiful foliage at Virginia Tech.