Week of March 7, 2021

This is BLUEBERRY week in the Florida Garden. The blueberry patch consists of three rows of eleven bushes each. Two rows are Southern Highbush and one row is the much larger Rabbiteye. Almost all varieties are University of Florida cultivars with a good range of ripening dates. Last year we started the third row by replacing the lackluster blackberries with highbush blueberries. All the bushes were pruned after the fruit were picked last year. The pine bark mulch was repleted last fall. I fertilize each spring with Holleytone, an organic fertilizer for acid-loving plants. This spring I also spread some garden elemental sulfur to lower soil PH and some Blood Meal to provide iron and assure a deep green color in the foliage. With the warm days and cool nights, the bushes are now in full bloom, with many clusters of blossoms fed upon by honey bees and small black bumblebees. One variety has already produced green, unripe blueberries. It will be only a month or so before we can have local blueberries. This will be one of my earliest homegrown fruit from the Garden. Enjoy the coming of Spring! TAPearson