Completing a Blueberry Bed at the Parks Office

January 29th, 2014

I started working out front of the Josephine County Parks office back in mid-summer, when I was appointed to the Parks Advisory Board.  I went down to the Parks office to ask for permission to put up signs at the dog park for my weeding classes and filled out a volunteer application to make the classes official, and found out that I get a Jo Co Parks pass for being on the Board, and thus volunteering more than 8 hours per year. 

The first thing I saw was the railroad-tie bed in front of the office, with an ivy column at the far end, and roses, irises, blackberries and grass in the rest.  Having seen it, I had to do something with it, and requested permission to weed and mulch it.  I also asked if I could crown their roses when they were done blooming.  I scheduled a day to weed it and came back a week or so later to mulch the bed with heavy walk-on fir bark and crowned just one rose plant, as the other one was just coming into bloom.

All this time, I had been looking at the space on the other side of the rail of the entry walkway, an unusable space full of moss and false dandelion because no one walked there, an area about 12’ X 20’ between the front fence, walkway railing, and the fuel tanks next to the big gate.  I talked to our Parks Director about building a blueberry bed there in the fall, demonstrating using leaves as base mulch and pine needles as top mulch, as well as how to grow blueberries in Southern Oregon.  She thought it was a great idea. 

I started spraying the weeds with glyphosate in preparation for fall mulching, and repeated it once or twice through the summer.  Glyphosate (aka Roundup) is a heavy fertilizer of broadleaf plants, which are going to dominate this bed.  I also continuing to fight the grass and blackberries in the rose bed.

Fall is a very busy time for me, moving and spreading leaves, and I didn’t get to move leaves from Schroeder Park to the Parks office until November.  I brought silver maple, cottonwood, and sweet gum leaves, about 3 yards in two pickup loads, and piled them generally in an oval shape in the center of the area, but also spread them on what would be the path around it, and in the 8” space between the fuel tanks container and the front fence, to keep the weeds down.  

I wasn’t sure yet what kind of path mulch I wanted, and the director wasn’t there that day to consult.  4 x 8 sand (1/4”-1/8” river sand) would look sharp, but would need regular working with hula hoe and rake to keep it that way.  The other option was to cover the leaves that I spread around the bed with walk-on-fir bark, which would need only yearly renewal.  For the time being, I decided to go with the leaves and bark for lower maintenance.

Our early December snow storm hit before I could return with compost and Rubel blueberry plants that I had been growing from #1 to #2 containers all summer.  At the Parks board meeting in early January, our Director told me that the leaves behind and around the tanks had to move.  That decided me on the 4 X 8 sand with regular maintenance option for the path around the bed and behind the tanks.  One inch is all one needs; more than that and it feels like walking on a beach.

The second Wednesday in January, I brought a yard of compost and three blueberry plants and commenced to raking and forking soggy leaves from the path area and behind the tanks; piling and stomping them in the center oval nice and flat; and making cone-shaped holes in the leaves to set the blueberry plants in.  I followed that with compost around the plants up to the level of the pot soil and all over the leaves, thick enough to hide them pretty well.  I then went to get a load of 6-12 cobble rock (aka Dog Creek Boulders) from Copeland, of a generally flat-bottomed shape and middle size, to hold in the compost.  I wound up 7 feet short of surrounding the oval.

I heard at the Parks Board meeting that people were loving the look of the bed.  People really do love the look of compost and rock borders.  But I wasn’t finished yet.

Two weeks later, I brought a ½ yard load of 4 x 8 sand and enough rocks to finish rocking in the oval.  I brought just enough sand to cover the area around the bed, making a clean walking path.  But there was not enough to cover the area between the fence and the tanks.  That will wait for another couple weeks, when I also crown both the roses. 

It is difficult to see naked blueberry plants, but there are three of them.

I then went to rake up a small load of pine needles along Pinecrest/Plum Tree Lane, where the gravel shoulders catch and hold pine needles, while letting oak leaves blow into the ditch.  I spread about half of what I raked onto the blueberry bed, shaking the needles onto the bed as naturally as possible, and picking out the occasional cigarette butt.  I tried to put on enough to keep it covered the whole year, as top mulches tend to thin out over the summer. 

I took the remainder home and spread them over about half my front yard beds, to cover the maple leaves I had spread earlier to protect my pots and plants before December’s snow and deep freeze.  Pine needles look a lot nicer than big leaf maple leaves, and keep them from blowing around.

I’m not sure yet what ground covers I want to plant to keep the blueberries roots covered and cool.  I’m thinking about small sedum and winter cyclamen.  They are slow growing, but easy maintenance and very pretty and low.  Pine needle mulch will have to be kept fairly thick until they grow in solid.

How to grow Blueberries in S. Oregon

Blueberries can be tricky to grow in Southern Oregon.  They like to grow in full sun, but their roots demand cool, loose, rich, moist soil, which doesn’t naturally occur here.  So you have to make it.

They don’t like being planted in soil; they like to be planted in 6” of compost on top of the soil.  Young blueberries have a spongy root system only about 4-6” deep.  As they mature, they put down a deep root, but for several years the whole root mass is easily transplanted.   As the compost is worked into the soil by worms, the soil is worked upward into the root mass.  If you plant other “gallon” (#1) potted plants into plain compost, they will eventually be left high and dry as the compost evaporates; blueberries spread their roots through the compost and sink into the soil.

That compost will dry out fast if it is left uncovered, so cover it well with loose, coarse mulch which will shade and protect it.  Pine needles, walk-on fir, or ¾” nugget bark work well; avoid fine bark, which kills soil.  Blueberries need live, loose soil to thrive.

But those roots will be coolest and happiest if they are covered with a green ground cover with roots that grow through the blueberry roots to the soil beneath or grow on top of them.  Lysimachia, also known as Creeping Jenny or moneywort, and small sedums grow on top; violets and strawberries grow through.  Sedum is slow growing but easier to control, and is easily peeled off the soil and transplanted in large mats if you can find them.

Some ground covers grow in the same root zone and compete rather than cooperate with your blueberries.  Blue star creeper killed a huckleberry in one of my yards.  Sweet Woodruff has similar spongy roots and directly competes for space.

Water is critical to blueberry growth and survival.  They can take a little dry, but too much too often will make them unhappy and eventually kill them, one reason why they like their roots covered with mulch and ground cover.  They can take a lot of water in winter; the biggest, oldest bushes I’ve ever seen were growing next to a pond that flooded them most of the winter.  If practical, site them in the wettest spot in your yard that gets sufficient sun but is not flooded in summer.

Southern Oregon is very hot in the summer.  Northern blueberries might prefer a little afternoon shade.  Southern rabbiteye blueberries, available in catalogs and some at Bi-Mart, can take our heat better.  Northern turn brilliant red in the fall and lose their leaves; southern turn various colors in pink, yellow, and red and keep many leaves through the winter.  Both types cross-pollinate; all bloom around the same time, regardless of when they ripen.   Southern tend to bloom and ripen later, over a longer season.