Wood chips/shavings will tie up nitrogen until they decompose. However, it's hard to say if that is really what's going on here. You don't say what kind of soil your plants are growing in. Blueberries like a rich soil with good holding capacity and they are often grown in peat bogs in western Washington state. Here in eastern Washington state I tried to grow them in fairly close proximity to grape vines and that didn't work at all. The plants displayed symptoms much like the ones you referenced. However, as soon as we removed the grapes the blueberries really took off and the bushes are now about seven feet tall and would grow much taller if I let them. Basically, they have a fibrous surface root system that hates competition so make sure they have everything they need by avoiding the same mistake I made in growing something else close to them. Full sunlight is also important for good growth and sweet berries.

I was in Houston when Alicia hit too. I was 7 or 8 years old. I don't remember all the details but I remember the most is that my dad made me rake all the dead leaves... and there sure was a lot of them! To this day, I still don't know why my mother even bothered to take us to school the next day when it was flooded everywhere. Talk about dedicated mother! I live in DFW area now and it looks like that Gus may stall on us and rain a ton and cause a major flooding????

I donno, knee pads and gloves? Yea, I would opt for the basement. I love me some basement. I will probably still love me some basement when I am old. Will make me keep doing stairs. Anyways, you will either have to insulate the floor joists or insulate the crawl space walls and condition it as well. I wouldnt particuarly like it to be dirt down there, would most likely do a rat slab. If you cant do a basement and are doing a slab, maybe you should just do a slab floor and build storage elsewhere. Might be more efficient. Just some ideas. Your in WI? Usually the central air/heating is found in the basement and ductwork is in the conditioned space (basement and first floor joists). Otherwise you have to run the ductwork inside the house taking up space. HVAC typically is not done in attic up north, considering condensate freezing up in vented attics. Most attics are not sealed up or conditioned in the north either, that is usually found down south.

Oh, see? The patio wall reflects the wall at the back of the yard. The stones are more square, but it’s just as orderly and similar height. Maybe it is the ‘new’ replacement boulders that are throwing things off (because of their color and haphazard-ness)and you should focus your plantings in and around those stones as opposed to covering the back wall. If there isn’t too much shade, you might add some geometric planters at the rear wall (on the left side?) to reflect the plantar boxes on the right side of the drawing.