A practical answer for Nancy the OP: Mix your blueberries up some soil with plenty of organic matter. Oak leaves, compost, pine needles, etc. would all be excellent choices. Then get an inexpensive pH test. You'd like your pH to be around 5. If it's higher, buy some elemental sulfur (quite cheap) and add it according to the Purdue Extension instructions. This will bring the soil down slowly over time and keep it low for years. Your blueberries will be happy campers in their new homes, and you won't have to be nervous around acid. A defense of sulfuric acid for others: Sulfuric acid can be easily and cheaply purchased in varying purities from places like Amazon. The effects are long-lasting, because carbonates get permanently converted to gypsum. Of course, if your soil includes lime, then more of this may dissolve over time, re-raising your pH. Also if you water with alkaline city water, this will also re-raise your pH. Using it is simple. It takes no time at all to throw on gloves and goggles and measure a couple drops into a watering bucket. Obviously you store it in a cool dry place out of the reach of children, just like you would antifreeze, paint thinner, bleach, and many other substances in your home. It's easy, carries minimal risks, and has instant benefits! In a very short time my blueberries have greened up and are looking much healthier. This post was edited by powerofpi on Mon, Jun 16, 14 at 9:33

Like you, I wanted a berry hedge. I decided to plant them along a road shoulder, so that I could just walk along the road and pick berries without getting bitten by copperheads or rattlesnakes. Twice, copperheads have crawled over my boots or snapped at me while I was picking berries in the fields. The road shoulder was an ugly miux of rubble, rocks and clay, so I dumped leaves and brush over the rocky mess and made dirt. Then I planted currants, blueberries, raspberries and gooseberries, and I let wild blackberries stay. Turns out, the red currants LIKED the ugly rocky clay mess and did not do so well in the black humus dirt I made. All the berry plants are doing "okay", but not thriving. Also, I made three mistakes with the raspberries: I moved wild raspberries out from under a giant walnut tree because I thought they were trying to ramble their way into the sun. Later I read that raspberries LIKE being under trees, if it shades them from hot afternoon sun. I tried to weed all of the yellow coneflower (Rudbeckia lacinata) out of the raspberry patch. It turns out, they are perfect for each other. The coneflowers don't even start to grow until after the raspberries have berries. When the coneflowers bloom, honey bees go crazy, so that's a plus for them. Also, they have a marvelously strong stalk with a fork, and this FORK becomes a perfect support for the raspberry canes! Last fall, I broke the tops out of the dead weed stalks, and helped the raspberry canes into the forks. Right now, the canes are loaded, since I pruned them back in winter to force them to make berries instead of ramble. I moved some wild raspberries to part of the road that caught water draining down the mountain. Water stood in the road in winter, and it drowned the berries: They do not like wet feet. I question whether or not your servicebery will grow under the tree canopy. When I saw wild serviceberry, it was growing all alone on top of a cliff! I haven't heard about these irrigation ditch hedges before. Is this a common practise in permaculture? Areyou trying to imitate the seep on a cliff or something? (I read that sandstone cliffs hold water, and that's why water seeps out of the base of these cliffs. Blueberries grow on top of them here, even though they appear to be "dry" cliffs.) If not, why are you irrigating? Isn't that a really artificial practise? I mean, irrigation has drained the aquifers in the midwest , so why are you interested in irrigating? Are you diverting water or it there naturally? I guess you can tell I haven't read much about permaculture. [I read Holmgren's book, that's all.] But I am really, cincerely curious why you would irrigate and call it permaculture. It seems artificial to me, any irrigation. I don't water anything. If it won't grow where I plant it, I move it. Instead, I am tryiung to add humus to the soil to make it hold water better. But ifyou are trying to imitate a sandstone seep, then it makes a little sense. I do collect rainwater, but I keep it covered so the mice and bugs don't drown in it, and I only use it rarely.

Here's a few to try. Blueberry Buckle I absolutely love blueberries. This is an easy recipe that can work as a breakfast or a dessert. Makes 9 servings. Ingredients 3/4 cup white sugar ¼ cup shortening 1 egg ½ cup milk 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon salt 2 cups fresh blueberries ½ cup white sugar â cup all-purpose flour ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon ¼ cup butter, softened Directions Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease one 8x8 inch pan. Cream together 3/4 cup sugar, shortening, and egg. In a separate bowl mix together 2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir into sugar mixture, alternating with milk. Stir in blueberries. Pour into greased 8x8 inch pan. To make topping: Combine ½ cup sugar, â cup flour, cinnamon, and butter. Sprinkle over cake batter. Bake at 375 degree F (190 degrees C) for 25-30 minutes. Hints tips tricks and how to cheat I usually donÂt bother with the topping especially if IÂm going to be eating it for breakfast. I have used blueberries that have been frozen and thawed for this recipe as well. They work fine in the recipe. Bavarian Cream I remember my Mom making this when we were expecting company. Mom always made it in fancy fluted dessert glasses. This recipe is from General Mills. This makes 6 servings. Ingredients 1 package (10 ounces) frozen sliced strawberries, thawed, juice reserved 1 cup boiling water 1 package (3 ounces) strawberry flavored gelatin 1 cup chilled whipping cream (heavy cream) Drain strawberries, reserving the juice. Pour boiling water over gelatin, stirring until gelatin dissolves. Add enough cold water to reserved juice to measure one cup; stir into dissolved gelatin. Chill until almost set. In a chilled bowl, beat cream until stiff. Beat gelatin until foamy. Fold gelatin and strawberries into the whipping cream. Pour into serving glasses or 1 quart mold. Chill until firm. If you wish, garnish with additional whipped cream and strawberries. You can substitute raspberries, or 1 can (8 ½ ounces) pineapple and lemon or pineapple gelatin. PatÂs Blueberry Muffins This recipe is from Taste of Home 1999 Annual Recipes, editor Julie Schnittka. It makes 12 regular size muffins. Ingredients 2 cups flour â cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon baking powder ¼ cup butter or margarine, melted 1 egg 1 cup milk 1 cup fresh or frozen (but thawed) blueberries In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add blueberries. In another bowl, beat egg and milk, stir in butter. Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just moistened. Spoon batter into paper lined or well greased muffin tins. Bake at 400 degrees F for 25 minutes. Let cool 5-10 minutes and remove from pan.

Al's 5-1-1 mix, which you've no doubt seen reference to in this forum, is ideal for berries of all types. The ingredient list is very simple -- five parts pine bark fines, one part peat, and one part perlite. For raspberries and blackberries, you would also add one tablespoon of lime per gallon to raise the pH, but you should leave out the lime when growing blueberries. In zone 6B, you more than likely will have no trouble overwintering Northern Highbush, Half High, or any of the more northerly adapted Rabbiteye or Southern Highbush blueberry varieties without protection. Nonetheless, it never hurts to add an insulation layer of mulch, leaves, etc. around the pots as a precaution. As for blueberry pot size, you can start as small as three to five gallons (depending on the size and age of the bush when you purchase it), but, long term, you'll get better results with a pot in the 10 to 15 gallon range. You can certainly go bigger, especially with a vigorous rabbiteye variety, but that's not essential.