Blueberry plants question

Folks, from what I'm reading in the blueberry thread, it looks like they would like soil that has had wood chips on it. I have a perfect place to plant blueberry plants so as to protect them from birds. It is bordered by chain link fence on two sides and the garage wall on another. Chicken wire could easily be put over the chain link with another fence added on the open end. The entire area could easily and effectively be covered by netting to keep birds out or even a framework covered with chicken wire which would keep squirrels out as well. It is on the north side of the garage but is not otherwise shaded so gets early day sun but otherwise no/little direct sun. Since blueberries grow among trees, I figured the sun wouldn't be an issue as long as the soil and watering are right. I have a load of wood chips next to this area now; the chips are oak and alder. Would putting the chips on the area and planting the blueberries there seem like a good idea?

I plan to plant some sort of berries there as it is a very out-of-the-way place in the yard and hasn't been used for anything up until now. It seems a perfect place for a berry patch, so would blueberries be a good choice? I do so want some, and our climate is perfect for them.

Glenna

Could be (subject to the usual disclaimers about how wood takes a long time to break down and can tie up nutrients while it does so).

We figured the soil we built for our blueberries would be acidic (because it is largely composed of composed leaves from the town), but when we got a pH meter we found that didn't seem to be so (maybe because of Maple leaves, which are not acidic? Or because of who knows what). I don't usually pay close attention to pH but I have been operating under the belief that for blueberries (and a few other plants), I should. So we did acidify that soil.

I've been wanting to try pine needle mulch, but I'm not sure where to buy some (planting a pine tree has occurred to me but would take a while to produce much mulch :-)).

The plants will grow there but won't give a lot of fruit. At least, that's my understanding (as a rule of thumb, any plant where you want many/big flowers or fruits will tend to need sun, and I'm pretty sure I read it about blueberries in particular).

Blueberry bushes are attractive-looking, so you don't have much to lose by trying. But if you want something more adapted to shade...the list is fairly short for edibles. Lettuce, rhubarb.