POD’s expanding! Well, sort of. At roof-level, Plants on Deck has always been all about the veggies; but at street level (POF never quite worked, so the plants out front have gone largely undocumented on these pages), there have always been containers full of blooming annuals and perennials. Each year, hours were spent plotting pleasing combinations and combing the area nurseries for perfect flowering flora. Lately, though, those hours are spent doing other things (like reading the classics.)

So this year’s gonna’ be different.

The Black-eyed Susan’s surrounding the maple are here to stay, but those annual containers? That require replanting each year? Way too much trouble.

Blueberries, baby. These two- and three-year-old plants, purchased from Gurney’s, just arrived. Worms included!

The interwebs assure gardeners that growing blueberries is easy! (Then again, they say that about tomatoes, too.) Alas, I’ve seen other, more accomplished gardeners (read: my folks) dedicate years to the miserable little shrubs with little to show for their efforts. Somehow, though, that doesn’t deter. Even if they don’t produce the 5-10 pounds of berries the catalogs promise, here’s hoping the shrubs are aesthetically pleasing enough to justify their existence.

These Dwarf Top Hat and the semi-dwarf Sunshine Blues were planted in two large containers in soil formulated for shrubs (higher acidity). A few scoops of regular potting soil and pine much were thrown in to round things off, and a cup of blueberry food (Holly-tone would work, too) was mixed in and top-dressed for good measure. We’re not expecting much this year, but we’re hoping for dividends down the road.