I don’t use those.

Oh yeah, talking to the guy who did the work around my trees for me he said the time broadbeans are picked here is January!

I have LOTS of cardboard, never threw away the packin g boxes.

One GREAT use for it—protecting my asparagus plants from frost! Both during the dormant stage over winter and spring-Christmas day against frost! Some bricks to keep the cardboard from flying away.

The acidity of my soil is great for potatoes. I have Nicolam Kennebec and Dutch Cream seed potatoes, will cut them to have pieces with 2-3 eyes and plant them directly.

Laugh till you cry wrote on Oct 2^nd, 2024 at 5:41pm:


Sorry. But, my yard is infested with mosquitos.

UnSubRocky wrote on Oct 7^th, 2024 at 4:04pm:


Put in a pond with native fish—they will eat the mosquito larva.

Rhubarb is thriving! Only four raspberry canes sprouted, six were dead when I planted them. Oh well, planning on ordering two bundles of summer–fruiting raspberries.

Will move the raspberry plants out of the mostly rhubarb bed, plant another 3-4 rhubarb plants in their place. I tell you, the plants look REALLY good, lovely clean deep-red stalks.

Won’t harvest this year, plants have to be given time to build the “crown” of roots.

Next year tho I will start harvesting! Stew the rhubarb, with strawberries and preserve most of it.

My next project is two blueberry beds plus a new, bigger raspberry bed. So the space between the house and the drive on the western side of the house will become not the vegetable patch but the small fruits patch.

Blueberries require acid soil, preferred pH between 4 and 5. Now, I have bought a few bags of “Azalea potting mix” which has the acidity blueberries prefer. That is expensive and acid soil is not available in bulk (my clay soil means raised beds are necessary so I have to buy extra soil.)

Is there a way to acidify soil? Some were suggested, the main one: pine needles.

Plenty of pines here so pine needles are there just for the raking up. Great!

Do a bit of googling: it is a myth pine needles acidify soil. Damn! Same for coffee grounds. Oh well, pine needles make great mulch.

So I will use sulphur, either elemental or some compound, e.g. https://www.yates.com.au/yates-soil-acidifier-liquid-sulfur/

Blueberry plants grow wider so LOTS of space is needed:

1.5m plant spacing

2.5m row spacing

This is fairly intensive spacing!

Of course, the land where the blueberries will go is sloping so will have to level it a bit, leaving some slope for drainage. Then measure and mark out where the beds will go and start heaping up soil, creating a raised bed 50cm high, adding sulphur as I go. The bags of Azalea soil I have I will use in the planting holes.

The climate of Tasmania is ideal for berries, the summers, cooler than on the North Island allow long slow ripening during which flavor concentrates. Might even put a shadecloth over the berries, slow the ripening even more.

Bird netting essential, of course.

I have several varieties, helps pollination.

Time to plant blueberries is late winter to early spring so plenty of time to create the beds.

The “small fruits patch” will have currants: gooseberries, white, red and black currants, blue berries and raspberries. Will relocate my cherry trees to the back of that patch.

In the 15m wide (!) nature strip as well as ornamental (Golden Ash and Japanese maple) trees I will plant four plum trees.

Jovial Monk wrote on Mar 2^nd, 2025 at 8:12am:


Just watch the PH on your water for the blueberries, using a soil with a low PH is good but if you are watering the plants with water with a PH of 7+ will soon increase the PH of your soil. Maybe look to use a pool acid in your watering can to maintain the correct PH.

I'm growing some blueberries in a shadehouse, I don't get a lot but my Granddaughter loves them and seems to get them all.

I have a few fruit trees that I planted over the last 25 years, plum, apricot, peach, 3 varieties of orange, limes, apple, avocado, guava, almond and mandarin. I also grow vegies like tomato, beans, pumpkin, onions and strawberries.