I haven't used Nourse for blueberries, but I am a big fan of them for raspberries. I planted 5 bare root blueberries last year, and I also planted about five gallon-sized potted blueberries from a local nursery the year prior. As long as you don't mind the extra price for a 3 year old plant, and you can get the variety you want, I'd expect the 3 year old plant to be bearing much sooner than the BR plant. But, I know there are people on this forum who are much more experienced than I who usually recommend BR plants... saying that they will quickly overtake a potted plant. -Glenn

The Easter freeze plus any thin new growth from the previous growing season has spelled out a problem for lots of our local CMS. Earlier in the spring many of them that had about one inch thick trunks even had to be pruned all the way down to almost ground level. In those situations, the CMs reprouted and have regrown to a point where they are now able to be pruned back again, leaving the strongest growing main leader trunks to continue growing and hardening off. Those newly grown trunks are now only about a quarter of an inch thick, and we are very concerned for their need to at least double in thickness and hardened off again so they will have a chance for survival this coming winter. For that reason we do not plan on dead heading the spent flowers to force new growth and more freqent than normal reblooming. If your Acoma CM is not struggling as much as what I just described has happened to many of our locally Grown CMs, then it must be a very good CM Cultivar. It is good that you are going to fertilize it. While you are doing that make certain that the root flare of your Acoma is just at ground level, and that any mulch, which may be covering the rootball, is pulled back at least 4 inches away from the rootflare. If you can not find the root flare when you pull back a little bit of the soil around the trunks of you CM, that could be indicating, you CM may now be situated too deeply into the soil. If that is the case continue removing the soil until you do find the root flare (that topmost place where the roots begin to grow out of the trunk) and slightly taper the soil. Then cover the entire planting bed with mulch, but like mentioned above, Keep the mulch at least 4 inches away from the trunk. When you reported that your Acoma has grown some, did you mean that you have seen new growth this spring and early summer? Is it fully leafed out? Have you avoided doing the "crape myrtle murder" pruning on it, except where the trunks and branches may have frozen already from winter and Easter freeze kill? If your Acoma has been "CM murder" pruned it could take even longer for your CM to recover, just like it slowes the CM down from forming the bloom buds, if you have not pruned back, to the first set of three leaves, the freeze killed dead ends of the branches. At any rate do not give up on your Acoma just yet. The trunk, foliage, and root developing that it has been and is currently doing should make it a much more resiliant shrub or small tree, once it finally does begin to put forth large amounts of its energy for blooming.

I think there is a way mothers talk to a child that encourages talking......every time you pick him up say "up"....not I am picking you up now"...as you put his shoes on, say "shoe" not....shall we put your shoes on"....then graduate to "shoe on".....and "shoe off". He sure should be saying more than that by 24 months. Talking baby talk to a 15 month old actually helps them learn to speak correctly......and once he has learned the basics, you are free to say.."Look! There goes a red car!"....but he needs to learn to say "look! Car!" first. I have an inlaw's inlaw's child ( got that???LOL!) who is 2 and says almost nothing....no sounds.....no squeals of delight no giggles. He has been in speech therapy for a couple of months and is now saying things like "down" when prompted.....but is still very quiet! Once I called someone with a baby a few months old.....and she answered the phone in a hoarse voice. I asked if she had a cold, she said it was the first words she had said that day....because, she said, there is no one hre to talk to but the baby. Talk to your baby! They thrive on interaction! Linda C

I have to say that I am very sad to hear that your husband not only condones this behavior, but then badmouths you to a 2 1/2 year old! My ss was a little younger than this when I entered the picture and he ALWAYS got his way with daddy. But he was never one to hurt others, just throw temper tantrums. My husband fed into this behavior and gave ss whatever he wanted. I took it for a while and finally one day I just looked at my huband and told him that my ss needed to be introduced to time-out. My ss would not stay in time-out at first, but eventually he caught on. My husband still puts up with a lot more from ss than I do (now he is 5 and he will still tell his dad he doesn't want to put his own shoes on and then throw himself on the ground and cry). He tried that with me a few times and I picked him and his shoes up and carried him to the car and buckled him up shoeless. When we got wherever we were going everyone else got out of the car and my ss had no choice but to put his shoes on. (luckily he did not know that I would never leave him alone in a car!) Now my other skids and biokid all tell my husband how my ss listens to me perfectly and does not cry for me or throw temper tantrums! So, my husband has been giving more discipline and my ss is slowly improving for his dad. My suggestion, talk to your hubby about this behavior and how dangerous it can be once your new baby is here. Do you want a 2 1/2 year old who hurts everyone else hurting a newborn? Also tell him how much it hurts you when he calls you a witch for demanding respect from a child. Children need discipline, and at his age he will continue to see just how far he can go---which seems like it may be way too far! Good luck!