Help!
We moved into a new house last year and decided to lean into the whole “edible landscaping” thing. We planted loads of blueberry bushes and they’ve done really well EXCEPT we didn’t realize that there was a huge patch of thistle growing underneath and it’s constantly trying to take over the blueberry patch. The bushes were flowering in the spring and fruiting right now, so we didn’t want to take any drastic measures to remove the thistle just yet. I’ve just been cutting it back periodically to make sure it doesn’t choke out the blueberries or spread to other parts of the garden.
My thought is that I’m going to remove the blueberry bushes when they go dormant in late November, try to dig up all of the thistle, then replant the blueberries, then transplant some strawberries (which are growing in pots at the moment) around the blueberry bushes in early spring to provide some ground cover and hopefully prevent the thistle from coming back next year.
I’m worried about disturbing the roots of the blueberry bushes because I know that they’re pretty shallow, but I don’t really see any other way to get rid of all the thistle. I wish I had known it was there before I planted the bushes last year!
I’m relatively new to berries and especially to blueberries, so I’d love to know what you think of this plan — Is my timing ok? Is it ok to replant the dormant blueberries in November, or should I bring them inside for the winter? Is this going to work?
We moved into a new house last year and decided to lean into the whole “edible landscaping” thing. We planted loads of blueberry bushes and they’ve done really well EXCEPT we didn’t realize that there was a huge patch of thistle growing underneath and it’s constantly trying to take over the blueberry patch. The bushes were flowering in the spring and fruiting right now, so we didn’t want to take any drastic measures to remove the thistle just yet. I’ve just been cutting it back periodically to make sure it doesn’t choke out the blueberries or spread to other parts of the garden.
My thought is that I’m going to remove the blueberry bushes when they go dormant in late November, try to dig up all of the thistle, then replant the blueberries, then transplant some strawberries (which are growing in pots at the moment) around the blueberry bushes in early spring to provide some ground cover and hopefully prevent the thistle from coming back next year.
I’m worried about disturbing the roots of the blueberry bushes because I know that they’re pretty shallow, but I don’t really see any other way to get rid of all the thistle. I wish I had known it was there before I planted the bushes last year!
I’m relatively new to berries and especially to blueberries, so I’d love to know what you think of this plan — Is my timing ok? Is it ok to replant the dormant blueberries in November, or should I bring them inside for the winter? Is this going to work?
