Blueberry raised bed

[w33blegurl]

Morning!

Am thinking of putting in a raised bed in the lottie for a few blueberry plants. Hoping to get it sorted in the next 2 months so I can get some plants in this autumn!

Just wondering how deep I should make it - was thinking 2 deckboards/gravel boards high so I could get plenty ericaceous compost in (was going to do a mix of topsoil and ericaceous) but then wondered if actually that was really far too deep and I could get away with one and just make sure I dug in lots of the ericaceous at the bottom and checked the pH each year! Also...whats good to mulch with? I don't have access to any pine needles and don't know anyone who has these types of trees so that's probably not a go-er!

Any advice would be great! Have grown them in pots before and we had several years of fantastic crops until they all died at the same time (had a weird scale insect on them...) but wanted something a bit more permanent and we have the space on the lottie!

[cptncrackoff]

Morning!

If you've got the room, money and time I'd make it as deep as possible, and get as much ericaceous as you can!

I've got two bushes in the ground, digging out a hole big enough to take a 50lt bag of ericaceous compost per plant, I'm concerned that whilst the ph is fine now, in a few years I may struggle!

Mulch wise, I have used our old Christmas tree, chopped up, also just use more ericaceous as a mulch, or even plain bark!

[ldsau93]

I'd also go with 2 boards high. Don't fill it right to the surface with soil/compost, being slightly recessed offers a (small) amount of protection to the plants from wind etc.

I've recently done a similar thing at the allotment. I nearly filled the raised bed (6m x 1m) with soil (top layer of grass removed first) then ericaceous was used in the holes dug for the plants. I have a similar arrangement at home and empty a 50 litre bag on it each year (bed is 1.2m x 1.2m). Don't dig this in as you may disturb the roots, plus the worms/rain will do the work for you.

Allow up to a metre between the plants, they will grow! This leaves space for other acid-lovers. I'm currently thinking about dwarf-heathers to fill the space plus some sedums.

[bario1]

Ive heard that coffee grounds can raise acidity when used as a mulch - I ask the cleaner in my office to bag up the coffee grounds for me (a large carrier bag's worth) once or twice a week and add it to my compost heap.