"NC" wrote in message ...

Morning all. Bought a blueberry bush yesterday at a local plant fair - I
eat loads of them so thought I'd have a go at growing. Doing some
googling this morning, it appears that they need a low pH soil - some
have even said 4.5 ! I am planning on planting it at the back of my veg
bed (to cover up a bit of the fence). How do I go about making sure the
soil local to the blueberry has sufficient acid levels, whilst
maintaining a fairly neutral pH in the rest of the bed ?? If I use an
acid fertiliser, will this not 'leak' into the rest of the veg patch and
cause problems ??


If you haven't decanted it, and the Plant Fair is still there
today, then I'd suggest taking it back, explaining the situation
and asking if you can exchange the plant for something else.
Or asking for your money back, if you ask really nicely.

Inadvertently buying plants which need "special treatment"
as it would in that situation, is merely buying an ongoing
problem for yourself. In less than ideal conditions the plant
quite possibly won't thrive and thus won't produce the quantity
of fruit you were expecting. Whereas if you'd just bought it
as an ornamental then you could possibly put up with a lack
of performance. As it would still fill the gap.

Failing that, given that you bought the plant to fill a gap then
you could possibly consider a large container of some kind
- more expense unless you're happy with scavenged stuff, the
bottom of a plastic dustbin etc. - or dig out an appropriate size hole,
maybe again insert half of an old plastic dustbin in that to act as
a barrier - and fill the hole with ericaceous compost - more
trouble and expense.

Or abandon the gap filling idea and plant it somewhere else.

Putting plants in unsuitable soils won't necessarily kill them
it may simply make them perform a loss less well than they would
if they had better conditions. As might happen with the veg on
the margin of your veg plot as well, depending on the proximity.


michael adams

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