Hello,
I'm new here. I went over to alt. home. lawn.garden, and there doesn't seem to be any activity there pertaining to gardening- just spam- so here I am. I am crossposting this between rec.gardens.edible and sci.agriculture.fruit
I thought I'd ask you for some pointers- since we moved from a condo to a home and have a "real" yard now- I started planting some stuff on Saturday.
I am excited about watching stuff grow. I went way over my budget- I got a peach tree, 4 hydrangeas, an azalea, a jasmine, 2 climbing roses, two blueberry plants and a raspberry and a blackberry.
1) On the package of the blueberries, it says to plant two different varieties near each other for cross-pollination. I didn't know what "variety" I had picked up so I went to another store and bought another, just hoping they are different. There didn't seem to be any variety marked on the label. I've heard they like acidity- what should I use on them that is safe for edibles?2) Same with the raspberries. Do you think raspberries and blackberries pollinate each other? They look so much alike.
3) Since I can't find any Rainier or Queen Anne Cherry trees here (South Carolina), I saved some pits from last year. I put them in a big pot- shallow and about 20 inches in diameter- so they will grow some before I put them in the ground. Does that seem like a good thing? We have plenty of frost here in the winter which I think they need.And- this may not be your expertise, but-)
4) I like blue hydrangeas, but if the soil is not acidic enough, they will bloom pink. I thought I'd leave two pink and 2 blue. Do you know what I would use as an acidifier ?5) To the person here asking about peach trees- I just planted my first last week- it was bare- now it already had flowers! I'm amazed. We just came out of a very cold winter, and it is in the 70's here right now.
Thanks,
Karen