Sulfur-ing the Blueberries

Last spring I planted a blueberry bush in what is now part of my new garden bed. I planted six raspberry bushes at the same time and lost five of them over the summer months. When this little blueberry lost all its leaves last fall I wondered if maybe it had died, but it did come back. There are even a few bunches of cute little bell-shaped flowers on it, though I am supposed to pick them off again this year to allow the bush to grow more before its first fruit-bearing season.

I put sulfur around the bush this week to try to acidify the soil, that's what the whitish stuff on the ground is. Our soil is naturally acidic, but the internet tells me that the pale green and pinkish color to my leaves probably means the soil ph is too high for the roots to absorb enough iron. I have a similar problem around my one surviving rhododendron (the other died shortly after we moved in) so I sulfur'd that as well.

I hope this helps. R really, really loves blueberries and I am pretty fond of them myself!

Oh, and for anyone who has not tried fresh-picked raspberries, give them a shot next time you have a chance - they are so much better than the ones you buy in the store.