My Blueberries

At last they are in.

Growing my blueberries ... I have wanted to do this for so long and now I have finally put some in.  I have to look after them and say hello often because they are social plants and dislike being lonely.
Blueberries like the azalea, are members of the Ericaceae family.  They like a sandy acid soil and they grow into nice sized bushes.

Source: How to grow blueberries 

Pruning and harvesting

Blueberries begin cropping at two years. Once the bush is four to eight years old it will produce 2–7kg of fruit.

Pruning helps productivity and, while the aim is to create a vase-shaped bush with an open centre, blueberries also make great hedges. Remove any weak, dead or crossed branches at any time of the year. Tip-prune shoots back by one-third during early spring, and remove unproductive shoots close to the base that are two or more years old. This encourages suckering and the formation of more shoots. Individual fruit will most likely ripen at different stages from December to mid-January, although some varieties can crop as late as March. Fruit starts hard and green, softening as it ripens, attaining its distinctive blue-black colour with a coating of white bloom.

Once fruits are fully darkened, taste a few before harvesting. Blueberries do not get any sweeter after picking so it would be a shame to pick them too early. Full sweetness takes a week or so beyond full colour to develop and timing varies between cultivars. Pick the fruit by hand, but be sure not to rub off any of next year’s berries that are already forming on the branches

Images @ Eminpee Fotography

PLANTING via the 3 Sisters Method

"Three Sisters" planting (Photo credit: net_efekt)

Planting the Three Sisters

The ancient Native American technique of growing Corn, Beans, and Squash together in an arrangement called the Three Sisters is the

ultimate in companion planting and helps increase harvests, naturally!
Corn acts as a support for climbing bean vines, the beans fix nitrogen in the soil for the high feeding requirements of corn and squash, and the squash provides mulch and root protection for the corn and beans! After cooperating beautifully in the garden, corn and beans form a complete protein when eaten together! How's that for a mutually beneficial relationship?
The Three Sisters are all easy to direct sow in the garden and are a great project for children, teaching them about the beauty of natural harmony while providing a fast-growing reward for their efforts.
Make the best possible use of your garden space this season, and try growing the Three Sisters! Just follow the easy steps listed below, fertilize well, plant other companions like herbs to assist with pest control, and you'll be harvesting your best crop in no time!
The Iroquois believe corn, beans and squash are precious gifts from the Great Spirit, each watched over by one of three sisters spirits, called the De-o-ha-ko, or “Our Sustainers". The planting season is marked by ceremonies to honor them, and a festival commemorates the first harvest of “green” corn on the cob. By retelling the stories and performing annual rituals, Native Americans passed down the knowledge of growing, using and preserving the Three Sisters through generations.

Planting instructions

In November / December in Australia  when soil has warmed nicely :

Shape a flat-topped circular mound of soil about a foot high and 2 feet across at the top, sloping outward toward the base. Plant a circle of Corn seeds on top, about 5 or 6, and water them in well, tamping down your soil mound firmly so it doesn't wash away in the first rain. Space the mounds 3 or 4 feet apart in the garden.

Since all corn grows on sturdy, dependable stalks, the variety you choose depends on the flavor, disease resistance, and holding ability you want.

About two weeks later:

When your corn reaches about 5 or 6 inches high, plant Bean seeds (6 to 8 of them) around the edges of the flat top or about halfway down the sloping sides of the circular mound. Push the seeds down deep into the soil and, if you're planting on the slope, make sure the soil is nice and firm. Add a bit of Thrive or liquid enhancer  at planting time to help the Beans fix nitrogen.

To get your Beans to climb up the cornstalks, choose Pole rather than Bush varieties.

One week or so after that:

Plant Squash seeds around the base of the mound, on flat ground. You can make them radiate around the mound, or just go in the direction you have available space! 6 to 8 seeds in a ring around the base of the mound is usually plenty.

The traditional Squash family member for this Sister is Pumpkin, with its all-American flavor and long growing season. Rumbo is a unique Korean variety that looks like an heirloom Pumpkin but tastes sweeter and more succulent than a Butternut Squash! For a quicker harvest, grow Summer Squash  or Zucchini

When everything begins growing . . .

English: These pits are remains of community storage cellars for corn, beans and squash. Used by the Iroquois Indians (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Thin the plantings to 2 or 3 Corn stalks, each with no more than 2 Bean plants winding around it. (You'll need to help the Beans get started growing up the stalks). The Squash is going to vine along the ground, so the number of plants you need depends on how far apart your mounds of corn and beans are, how long the vines get, and how much walking space you need in the garden.

Related articles

• How to Plant Flowers on Slopes
• Pumpkins, Hallowe'en and the Three Sisters Garden #1
• Grow So Easy Organic - How To Grow Beans - Bush & Pole

"I'm getting so old, I don't even buy green bananas anymore." - Chi Chi Rodriguez -

Lowering the glucose value in the blood is one of the healing effects of the banana.

Eating one or two pieces of banana will regain your stamina and contribute to your recovery from fatigue rapidly after finishing your daily hard work, or work out if your are an athlete.

I am a grandmother of sorts, my banana tree is having a bunch.

The Morgo Bunch

This has been slowly taking place over the last couple of weeks, I was so impressed!  I was even more impressed to find this interesting story about Doubting Banana's and the obvious lack of common sense in the world.  One of my favorite subjects,  the lack of common sense.  I used to say they would have to teach it in schools soon as a subject to pass.  We are almost there at that point now in life.   
And please read on, as  this is a great read.

DOUBTING BANANA"S

People always seem to need evidence. Like Doubting Thomas, they won’t BELIEVE anything unless they see it with their own two eyes. And worse, even if they see something, they still find so many excuses not to believe. They seek more and more evidence until they can finally support their stand of NOT BELIEVING.

For example, a person may see a yellow object, long and curved, a bit pointed at the end, fleshy and looks like fruit. In fact, it looks like a BANANA! Then a monkey appears and sees the object, smells it, peels it and eats half of it. The person cries, “Boy, it sure looks like a banana.” Then I tell that person that it was indeed a banana.

The person frowns and tells you, well you know, a monkey is still a monkey, suppose that the monkey was fooled? WHAT?! This person sees a banana, sees a monkey eat that banana and still doesn’t believe. So you both steal that banana from the poor monkey and have it inspected by a scientist, not just an ordinary scientist, but a BANANA EXPERT. The expert confirms that it was indeed a banana.

Bananas on a banana tree. Personnal photo, free licence (see below). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

But Doubting Thomas still wasn’t satisfied. What if the expert was just mistaken? Was he really an expert of BANANACOLOGY? So you both investigate his credentials and certificates from schools he graduated from. They were authentic. But wait a minute! What if that school was releasing these certificates without quality education? And then, what if the theories from previous scientists taught have all been errors? Could it still be banana?

The argument can go on and on, doubting this and doubting that. Woe to the person who allows himself to be victimized by DOUBTING BANANAS! When is his doubt going to be satisfied? In my own area of expertise, I’ve met auditors who act just like that, never being satisfied even if a concrete evidence is presented infront of their faces. There are also bosses like that. They in turn doubt their auditors.

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t ask for evidences and that we shouldn’t verify things. What I’m saying is that we should know when to stop our investigations before we all act like fools. But how? COMMONSENSE. Something that’s very uncommon nowadays.

In a time where we rely upon so many manuals and experts, we’ve started to lose our own minds and our own powers to understand. We’ve lost our commonsense and became doubting bananas, paranoid people who can’t ever be satisfied.

Don’t be a banana. Nurture your mind. In the end, maybe it won’t matter anyway what fruit the monkey ate. So what if it’s not a banana after all?

Read more http://itakeoffthemask.com/words-of-wisdom/doubting-bananas/

Chi Chi Rodriguez  - Juan Antonio "Chi-Chi" Rodríguez (born October 23, 1935) is a Puerto Rican professional golfer. He was the first Puerto Rican to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Images @ Melonpopzdropz Flickr