Blueberry Monday

I have two pots of blueberries, these two patio blueberries from Stark Bros Nurseries. Stark's is in my home town and my home town can use all the help it can get!

There have been only two tricky things about growing blueberries.

• They don't like our tap water because it's too basic. I've been giving them distilled water when there isn't enough rain, but we're looking into a rain barrel.
  
• They need some protection in the winter since they are in containers. We buried the pots in a somewhat protected location on the south side of the house for the winter. And, I watered them whenever it was expected to get really cold at night -- wet soil freezes more slowly than dry soil.

I bought them last year and I'm already getting fruit! We, of course, tried them the instant they turned blue. They were tasty but very tart. I checked The Garden Primer by Barbara Damrosch today. She says that blueberries need to stay on the bush for a week after they turn blue. The tried and true method for harvesting is to "tickle" the clusters. Anything that drops easily into the container you hold below is ready to eat. Here was today's harvest.

Good thing there are only two people living in my house! It was the best blueberry I've ever tasted -- a perfect texture and still tart but not too tart.