Our spring has taken up where winter left off, with over 4" of rain having fallen so far in May, 3.25" of that coming in the last 48 hours. The previous week was relatively dry, so I was able to do some direct seeding of carrots, parsnips, beets, chard, fennel and collards. However, with the heavy rains, it remains to be seen whether some of those seeds, especially the smaller ones planted at a shallow depth, were washed away.
One bright spot this spring has been the emergence of an abundance of blueberry blossoms, shown below. We planted 6 blueberry plants three years ago. One didn't survive the transplanting, so we've nursed the other five along without seeing any berries the first two years. They've also come under pressure from rabbits in the winter, who seem to relish the bare branches. So it was a pleasant surprise to see fruit starting to develop this spring.
When growing blueberries, one important thing to remember is that they require acidic soil, more than most other fruits or vegetables can tolerate. We planted ours in front of our back deck in a bed apart from the rest of the garden, putting a lot of peat moss, which is acidic, around the transplants. We also add sulfur to the soil, making it more acidic. Blueberries like to be kept moist, so a layer of mulch several inches deep will help retain moisture during dry periods. I use wood chips for my mulch, which I can usually find for free.
