Hi rjinga the plants look like they would be fine in those containers for another season. Keep in mind that Peat Moss and Sphagnum Peat Moss are two different things. What you need is Sphagnum Peat Moss. Blueberries like soil to remain damp but not soaking wet so you need a soil that drains well. They also like full sun. It would be unusual for your soil conditions to be acidic enough without being amended. They also like lots of organic matter. In most cases its good to work in sand to aid in drainage and well composted leaves for additional organic matter. Plus lots of Sphagnum Peat Moss and Cotton seed meal and granulated sulfur to aid in lowering the PH. From the looks of your plants it looks like you know all of that though as they all look healthy though a somewhat pale. The next next time you water them add some fertilizer and 1 Tablespoon of White Vinegar per gallon to it and I bet they will green right up.

Dee-We enjoyed having you with us this month. Updated List: Micyrey-sent-received Smitties-sent-rec Galium-sent-received Sandlapper-Rose-sent-received Squanzon NCGardengirl Candycow PrayerRock Mommyto2-received-sent Kalena67-sent-rec Poisondartfrog-sent-rec Sred98-sent-rec andrizzle-sent-received Domehome-sent-received Did I miss anyone? I just have 4 members who signed up that haven't sent. Please mail your boxes asap. We don't want this swap to run into next month. I went to the Nursery, where I use to work, yesterday. The previous owner, my old boss, is renting the place out now. The new people have the most spectacular plant material. Things you can't find at most Garden Centers. I picked up the most beautiful begonias. The flowers are yellow with orange around the edges. Also bought some Ivy Geraniums for my 3 tiered basket. I could have spent hundreds of dollars there. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Mariann

Michelle, The book is great. At one point it was out of print and impossible to find and the used copies you could find online were considered rare books and priced accordingly (in the hundreds of dollars) It later was reprinted, and Dr. Cotner himself said that given how many pages the book was (around 400 I believe) and all the photos it contained, it was so expensive to print that he himself didn't blame the publisher for not wanting to put it back into production because it was very expensive to produce "nowadays". He also said at that time that it would be impossible to write/publish a book like that nowadays because of the cost, but you know, the demand for it was so high that additional printings did happen well after he said that. That was likely in the late 1990s or early 2000s when he said that, and I guess publishing costs had soared since it was first published. Kim, If I was gardening in place that was windy like that and it was a permanent place where I was going to be long-term, I'd plant a windbreak around the garden, but 15-20' from the garden so it didn't shade out too much of the garden ground. Windbreaks can be lifesavers when gardening on flat, windy land. If it wasn't a permanent place where investing in lots of large evergreen shrubs or trees was possible, I'd grow a triple row, densely planted, of some sort of large annual plant that would at least provide some windbreak....maybe some of the tall grain-type amaranths (harvest the flowers before they go to seed or you'll have 1,000,001 amaranth plants each year forever after), or some of the more densely-branched tall sunflowers or a thick, dense planting of field corn (its stalks are sturdier than sweet corn), ornamental corn or sorghum. I have used broom corn interpanted with hyacinth beans as a wind break by my yard is somewhat sheltered by woodland on three sides, so the 12' tall broom corn stalks didn't break. Because they get so tall, I do not know if they would work in your windier area. I think the wind might break the stalks or cause them to lodge. If the two of you do not read the local Texas gardening magazines (Neil Sperry's "Gardens" (now only available, I believe, as a digital online publication) at his website, and "Texas Gardener" (believe it is based in central TX but covers the whole state), I recommend them highly. Texas Gardener has a stronger focus on veggies, but does cover other topics as well, and everything Neil Sperry writes and publishes is pure gold for Texas gardeners. The last time I bought a new copy of Dr. Cotner's "The Vegetable Book", I purchased it directly from Texas Gardener Press, one of my favorite sources for books about gardening in this region. Here's a link to their book page: Bookstore at Texas Gardener Press I am out in the garden for a large portion of every day that the weather allows it at this time of the year. Once the real heat sets in and the temperatures are in the 90s and above every day, I spend much less time out there, mostly only harvesting fruits, veggies and herbs, watering, or cutting flowers for bouquets. By then I hopefully have enough mulch on the beds that weeding is not need as often, because you're not going to find me outside weeding once it gets really hot. I do try to keep the garden well-weeded through at least the end of June. After that, when we mow weekly, I dump more grass clipping mulch on top of the existing mulch and that's about it. If we get a rare, cool and maybe misty or drizzly day in the middle of the summer, I'm out in the garden in a heartbeat weeding. We had a great garden year in 2012 and I had tons of tomato plants. Know what that meant? It meant I could spend up to 8 to 10 hours a day in June and July mostly just harvesting. I blame the Principe' Borghese tomatoes for that harvesting fiasco. I had a lot of them that year (for sun-dried tomatoes) and could spend a whole day just harvesting those 12 plants because each one would have hundreds of bite-sized tomatoes ripe and ready to pick and dry. I've stopped growing it now because that was just too much time spent harvesting small tomatoes and also have cut back on how many cherry tomato plants I grow for exactly the same reason. If I ever grow Principe Borghese again, I'll just pull up the plants by their roots when they are heavily loaded with ripe tomatoes and hang them in the garage to dry. (This can work well in a dry climate in a dry summer, but in a more humid year, the tomatoes may rot before they dry.) I had my fill that summer of slaving away in the garden, harvesting all day in 90-100+ degree weather. I'm trying to garden smarter, not harder, these days because I'm not getting any younger and spending all day every day out in the summer heat no longer is an option for me. Evern since the summer of 2011, when I got a mild case of heat exhaustion at least 3 separate times when we were out on fires in 112-116 degree heat, I just cannot tolerate the heat like I once could, and I have to be really careful in the summer because of that. Planting tomatoes as early as possible helps because I'd rather be harvesting and canning the main tomato crop in May and June than in June and July. There's plenty to harvest as it is in the summer months, so getting most of the tomatoes done early means fewer hours out in the hot sun. I also bought a beach-type sun umbrella a few years ago and will carry it out to the garden and stick it in the soil and work in its shade. This works better if I am doing something that keeps me in a relatively small area for a while rather than moving around every 5 minutes. If y'all have too much summer wind, this might not work for you if the wind keeps blowing the umbrella away. Dawn

Adam: A very good question. I too am liking the fabric pots. Blueberries don't become rootbound nearly as quickly as trees or figs. But fabric still has advantages. I'd move them inside during prolonged periods when it is below 20F at night and near or below freezing during the day. If the average is above freezing the roots won't freeze and the plants are better off outside than in a warm garage.