2020 - Page 2 of 5 - Andrea Whitely Garden Consultant

My dear old Dad, who has sadly long since passed and was always a visionary for so many things, once said to me, “You guys should grow blueberries” and that my husband and I should create a blueberry farm, long before blueberries were as much a part of our staple diet as they are now. Pretty much everyone now includes at least one or two punnets of blueberries in their shopping trolley each week, I know we do. Life got in the way and we never did create a blueberry farm. Anyway, this week, in the mid of #stayathome and #flattenthecurve and #wewillgetthroughthis, I decided it’s time to plant some blueberries and plant them I have.

So Many Varieties, Which One to Choose?

I chose the variety ‘Sunshine Blue’ or Vaccinium corymbosum x ashei x darrowi, as they are a semi-dwarf variety and will only grow to about 1.8metres and that’s plenty big enough. In saying that though, they will be restricted by the size of the pot I have put them in. This variety does not need a cold winter (it needs only 150 hours of winter chill) and is semi-deciduous, so perfect for our less than cold winters here in Perth. In Perth, you can also grow, Vitality, Blueberry Burst, Blueberry Kisses, Misty, Sharpes, Blue Rose, Biloxi and Denise.

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Phew, what a week I have had, so far…the mornings are nice and cool and yet the afternoons are super muggy, humid and hot. We are still swimming in the pool and it’s a fun time of the year to be gardening here in Perth.

The calendar tells us that it is Autumn and if you have a close look around, there are some deciduous trees that are already turning golden hues and reddish tinges. My Cercis ‘Lavender Twist’ is all yellow and the leaves will fall anytime soon. I have planted a few Nyssa Sylvatica at various places in my neighborhood in the front gardens of friends’ homes and they have already shown us their sweet and very beautiful red leaves, just a few but enough to herald the change of season. The mornings are definitely cooler and the birds much more active in the garden, I think they are appreciating a little reprieve from the long summer.

This week we have the opportunity to “bring out our dead” which is what we call it when the council arranges to come and collect all of our green waste and also household junk sadly destined for landfill, though, I must say most of ours has gone hopefully to be repurposed by neighbors before it gets to landfill. So for me, that signals a time for a BIG post Summer prune and none of my plants is let off the hook, everyone gets a haircut!

We have a huge pile out the front of our place which is a very satisfying reflection of a big family effort. It will be gone next week, collected by a big truck that turns the green waste into compost and mulch.

Year: 2020

This Week In The Garden…I Am Planting Blueberries

This Week In The Garden, I am Chopping and Trimming, Planting and Fertilizing and so much more…