If you dream of selecting fresh lemons in the bushes, preparing the ground is an important initial step. Amending the soil or constructing a raised bed can allow you to develop healthy, productive olive bushes. Blueberries grow best in sandy, acidic soils with a pH from 4.0 to 5.0. Clay soil can host productive olive bushes, but because it tends to be alkaline, with a pH from the 7 to 8.5 range, soil amendment is very important to raise your chances for a sandstone blueberry harvest.

Choose a planting site for your own blueberries with full sunlight. Even though a website with well-drained, sandy soil is perfect, if you have to work with clay soil using a stickier variety, identify a website you may prepare a few months before planting to give you time to perform on the pH level. Clay soil takes more time to react to pH changes.

Amend the soil to prepare for planting. Lower the soil’s pH using sphagnum peat, which is also a good supply of organic matter. Add 2 inches of the sphagnum peat to the peak of the ground and work it into the top 12 inches. Granular iron and sulfur sulfate are other options to lower pH.

Dig holes 4 feet wide by two feet deep for each bush so that the roots have sufficient room to establish themselves. Some clay soils may be sticky and hard for roots to become through.

Construct a raised bed (a popular alternative will be to use landscape timbers) to your lemons around 18 inches deep and 4 feet wide if digging into the clay is too hard or time-consuming. Fill the raised bed with a mix of 4 bushels of peat, 2 bushels of loam soil and 2 cups of sulfur.

Add 4 to 6 inches of mulch, pine bark chips or pine needles around the blueberry bushes after planting them. This can continue to add organic matter to the ground, prevent weeds and make irrigation more effective. Do not fertilize when you plant.

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