Nestled in the side garden is a blueberry bush. We had transplanted this lovely shrub almost 10 years ago. Actually, it was a pair of them but one had succumbed to mother nature. Okay, I really don’t remember what happened…it might have been competition with other plants/shrubs or lack of water or transplant shock. Our blueberry shrub is producing lots of wonderful blueberries for us.We saved this blueberry shrub from human devastation. Here’s our story.
Many years ago, DH and I used to visit a wonderful blueberry farm in Northern Virginia. The owner gave us a bucket and told us to fill it as much as we could. We did and had fun. There were rows upon rows of blueberry shrubs with these dazzling fruits to be picked. Back then, I was considered to be a wonderful baker specializing in chocolate concoctions and had dreams of opening a bakery. Ooops…I digressed. Back then, I would make wonderful blueberry muffins and blueberry cakes with these fruits.Several years later (10 years ago), I am working for a technology firm where the owner’s wife (my boss) mentions to me that a blueberry farm had been sold and they are clearing the land to build new homes. Oh no! She had received permission to dig as many blueberry shrubs as she could. This is where my DH (the horticulturist) comes in.
We thought we were going to dig 6-8 shrubs, giving half of them to my boss. DH and I arrived to what was left of the farm (a sad scene). We found an area that wasn’t bulldozed yet. Well, the 6-8 shrubs became only 4 shrubs. They were HUGE! DH wanted to make sure we had a good size root ball and even one shrub was quite heavy to load into the truck. Thank goodness my boss lived less than half a mile away from the farm. We gave her two (and she was extremely happy to have two large shrubs). Quality is better than quantity.
Our blueberry shrub sits proudly in our garden and we are thankful that it’s producing wonderful berries for us. Since I no longer bake (long hiatus), I add the blueberries with other fruits for juicing. We can tell that summer is officially here.
2 comments:
Oh I LOVE BLUEBERRIES!!! Those look SO GOOD! LOL
Oh, I love, love, love blueberries! We have two blueberry bushes we bought at Kmart, maybe 18 years ago? They thrive every year and we don't do a think to them. They desparately need to be trimmed, but they still are loaded with the blues.
We have some acreage in the next township with farm fields and I have told my husband several times that I want to line the one property line with blueberry bushes. All down the side. We could probably plant around 75. 75 bushes! I'd be in blueberry heaven for sure. And strawberries too. I could live on those two fruits for the rest of my life! And I make a mean blueberry pie too. My nephews would be very happy if we got more bushes planted. They scarf down my blueberry pie at Thanksgiving like there's no tomorrow.
Post a Comment