Blueberry Wine

I'm thrilled to report 100% germination rate😎 So these girls were dropped into soil on April 22nd. They started pushing up on 4/24 then fully popped up on 4/25. The first couple days they were under the humidity dome on the heat mat in the dark, but once they popped up on the 25th, we had a nice morning so I put them in front of a South facing window. They enjoyed the morning sun, and then I rigged up the grow lights for the afternoon. At that point they were too tall for the humidity dome, so that went away. When they're not in the sun, they're under 3 Litever 24v grow light strips. So they were under the lights for a couple days and then on 4/28 it was gorgeous out, 60F and sunny so I put them out in the south flower bed in front of my house. That same day, I was out in the garden weeding beds with my girl, Phyllis Diller. Phyl was one of the first chickens I got about 7 years ago, and she looked old then. But Phyl quickly became one of the biggest personalities in my flock, and she knows how to throw some shade with her heavy lidded eyes. About 2 years ago in the summer she was attacked by a bald eagle right in front of me. She had 3 deep lacerations, 2 by each of her wings and one across her saddle. She gradually recovered, but her balance slowly degraded, and a couple times I found her on her back unable to get up. One time I found her like that in the freezing rain, unresponsive, and I brought her back to the land of the living with my hair dryer. Eventually she degraded to the point where she couldn't walk, but I couldn't put her down. She's still alert and has an appetite, so Phyl came to live in the house this winter. So I like to get this immobile chicken out and about as much as I can. And she's happy keeping me company out in the garden, under the shade of the lovage. So after I weeded the sorrel bed and mulched it with straw, I had a good tub full of invasive grass, dandelion, burdock and thistle. I read a book on biodynamic gardening this winter and I plan on bringing more biodynamic practices into my gardening, one of which is Weed Tea. Actual weeds, not our "weed"😜 I brought them back to the house, stuffed them in an empty mesh bag that originally had 10lbs of mussels in it from a local aquaculture operation, and submerged them in a 5 gallon bucket of water and put a lid on it. In the next 2-4 weeks the plant matter will begin to break down and the nutrients they took from the soil will go back into the water and then back on the plants I want them to nourish. What's left in the bag will go into the compost. I didn't feed any nutes this first week but they'll get a charge of Nitrogen next week💩

Babies are getting another leaf set😊 They've mostly been under the lights all week. When it hasn't been really windy, it's been raining. There was a really nice day on 5/2 and they stayed out and drank up the sunshine. We're currently at 14 hours and 28 minutes of daylight as of 5/6. I also gave them their first feeding of the Alaska Fish fertilizer. I really like this fertilizer as it's 5-1-1 so it's really good for vegetative growth. It's also a nice and thick product. Some other liquid fertilizers tend to separate and stick to the bottom, even with shaking, but the consistency of this stuff stays the same which I like. I don't mind that it stinks💩 because I know the plants love it. You can see the difference it made in their color from 5/2 to 5/5. Speaking of food I also gave the weed tea a stir this morning to aerate it. The little bubbles telling me it's fermenting is music to my ears😌 Things are still a little slow as it's early days. I'm hoping they start to really find their stride this week and put out more growth.

These Blueberry babies are doing great! The had another feeding this week (at the correct dilution this time) and I re-potted them the next day. I used Coast of Maine Bar Harbor blend potting soil that I've been using for years with good results. I color coordinated the new pots and strains so Blueberry is Purple. Got more leaves coming in so I'll have to pinch them soon. The weather here is still a little cool, 45F at night and 55-60F during the day. We had a couple cold, drizzly days and during those they were under the lights and on the heat mat which I bought down to 70F. Still going to be a little while before I can out them out and in the ground. Not much to report with these since they're so easy and carefree!

It's been a good week😊 The weather has been consistently warm the past week and on 5/17 I decided it was nice enough to put the babies in the hoop house. And they love it! I've watched them change right before my eyes the past few days😳 They are soaking up the sun and love the warmth in the hoop house. The day before I moved them out, my girl Phyllis joined me while I transplanted and seeded curcubits. These babies are definitely the strongest of the seedlings so far, so kudos to Seedsman and their genetics💪 You can clearly see the change in their color and growth from 5/17-5/19, so much happier😃 Slightly heat stressed as they're adjusting. And we're gaining daylight; as of today we're at 14hrs 59mins. I'll have to transplant them again soon, I really should have gone larger last week, but of course the kid in me was like "Ooooh Colors!"😅

Another great week for these beauties😍 They're definitely the strongest of the seedlings💪 Bigger pots with more Coast of Maine Bar Harbor blend this week. They were in need both of transplanting and a topping, but I decided to transplant first because it was more important and also they'll recover faster if they have more medium post-topping. I'll wait another day or two before I do so that they can settle in. I've been putting the outside temps in the data section so far, but the temp in the hoop house during the day can be anywhere from 78F-102F so they're getting plenty of heat. The weather has been so warm I may even put them in the ground next week.

15 hours and 21 minutes of daylight, and another week of solid vegetative growth💪 Girls got a topping this week on 5/31. Judging by their color and yellowing they're going to need a feeding today which I'll do when I go back out this afternoon. They need the extra nutes post topping. Upcoming weather forecasts are looking pretty consistent with most days in the upper 60's, some even reaching 80F with overnight lows around 55F. I should be able to get them in the ground soon, I just need to make a final decision on where exactly I'm putting them in the garden. Other then that there's not much to report!

15 hours and 29 mins of daylight as of today, 6/11 It's been a week, that's for sure. We had a big heat wave move through, some days it was 92F and over 100F in the sun. I also had my sister fly up from down south and stay for a couple days now that we're both fully vaccinated, I hadn't seen her in 2 years! But that also meant I had to spend almost 2 whole days tearing my house apart, moving seedlings racks and Phyllis out of the guest bedroom, trying to clean an 1840's farmhouse with multiple long haired pets living in it and 2 hard working laborers that track all kinds of things in😅 Put her on the ferry Sunday morning, then immediately harvested and sold produce at the Farmers Market. Next day had to run to the mainland to get a load of hay. I've been busy. It also meant that I did not get these in the ground as I would have liked to, but it's just as well. The heat wave broke yesterday and it got down to 50F last night. It's a chilly day today so I think the plants are happier in the hoop house anyway. It is just around 60F right now, but there's a chilly breeze and it's quite overcast. But I can't keep them in there forever. I need to finish prepping beds and get my cannabis plants in the ground. I'm just so bloody tired😵 The fatigue feels insurmountable. I'm still struggling with what I need to get done vs how much energy I have to do it, trying to get as much done as possible without overexerting myself. But my batteries are very low right now. Hopefully it'll stay cool for a bit so I can get some decent sleep😴 Otherwise, these plants are the best of the bunch. The biggest, most beautiful rock stars😍 But 2 of them will be going away soon. One of my best friends is battling breast cancer right now, and it was always my intention to give her 2 of the 3. I really only need one for myself. Not much else to report. I wish you all happy, healthy growth for all your plants, and remember to take care of yourself🙏

I finally got plants in the ground! Woot Woot! 15hrs 31 mins daylight Despite the ATV still being down (husband said he'd look at it tonight after I threatened to read the Haynes manual and fix it myself) I dragged 3 wheelbarrow loads of homemade compost that I used Pfeiffer biodynamic compost starter in. I selected a bed that happened to have a lot of good things going for it. It isn't in the oldest part of the garden, but it's in an older area that has a good amount of topsoil already. This particular bed had garlic in it last year, and happens to have several plants that stayed dormant last year, but decided to come up this year. This is great because the garlic will deter pests like spider mites and others. There's also a bunch of beneficial herbs that have self sowed in the bed like chamomile, motherwort and catnip. Catnip is good for repelling mice and voles, as well as flea beetles and aphids. Chamomile is great because it has natural anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties, as well as sequestering calcium, magnesium and potassium while attracting beneficial insects like ladybugs. There were also several clover plants that I left in so they can sequester nitrogen in their roots. So I had my bed selected, put 3 loads of compost down, broadforked it, and then grabbed a wheelbarrow full of bark mulch and added 3 quarts of dolomite lime for a Cal-Mag boost and also to balance the acidity of the bark mulch. After I spread that over the top of the bed I dug out my planting holes, popped the babies in and then added around 2 quarts of the Coast of Maine Bar Harbor blend that they've been in around the outside of their roots so they have a little more of a buffer as they spread out and transition to the compost, don't want to stress them out too much! Then I put down a layer of local Lucerne Farms Ground Cover mulch. Last year was a very dry summer, and it's looking like this year will be too, so I'm using a lot more mulch in the garden. Anything I can do to help with moisture retention. After that I placed support hoops for the row, and added 2 yellow sticky traps to grab any early diners so they don't bother the plants while they're settling in. The final piece was the Agribon Ag-15 row cover, which will lower their stress by keeping them warmer at night, and also reducing the direct sunlight during the day. I used one 2 years ago with my transplants and had great results. But there was only 1 Blueberry that went in the ground. The other 2 went into 10 gallon fabric pots for one of my dear friends who is battling breast cancer right now. There may be about 40 years age difference between us, but we've been growing together from the start. We order seeds together, I start seedlings for her, I check her plants when she has a problem or needs to know if they're ready for harvest, and she gives me a gallon of fertilizer for special occasions😘 She's a character too😹

15 hrs 31 mins daylight as of today Everyone is settling in well after the transplant last week, they seem very happy are are definitely shooting up. I removed the support hoops for the row cover because the Blueberry has grown above it. Speaking of, it is the only Blueberry because the other 2 went to live with my friend. She's about to start another round of chemo pills, which she told me she has to do for the next 5 years😩 It's terrible, and I wish I could do more for her. Not much to report this week as this girl is very happy. Unfortunately it seems there's some technical issues here on GD. The past couple weeks my diaries haven't been updating properly, and the 2 diaries I started last week for my autos are missing. They don't show up under my "Diaries" tab, which says there's 17 but only shows 15. I also tried searching for the 2 missing diaries by strain and by diary name, and couldn't locate them. Anybody else having issues? Update 6/26- I totally forgot to add that on Monday the garden got a spraying of horn manure. Horn manure is a biodynamic preparation of cow manure that's been fermented in a buried horn. This results in a material that's teeming with beneficial flora and fauna for the soil. Ideally it would be sprayed prior to planting in the spring as it encourages healthy root growth. I purchased the pre-potenized so that I only had to spend 20 mins stirring rather than an entire hour. That would have been brutal😵 I sprayed it at night when the earth is breathing in and used a spruce bough to sprinkle it over the plants in the garden. The extra icing on the cake was that there was a rain the day before, and another the day after I sprayed so it was well watered in.

Alrighty folks, this week we're doing 2 weeks worth of individual updates because last week I had to re-do my Auto Diaries after the original ones didn't save while Growdiaries was having technical issues. But those properly saved and hopefully all that is behind us! I guess this place is getting pretty popular!😜 Blueberry continues to just truck on. Nothing seems to phase her. She's big and oh so bushy! "She's a bad Mama Jama! Just as fine as she can be She's foxy, classy Oh, sexy, sassy She's heavenly A treat for the eye to see She's built Oh, she's stacked Got all the curves that men like"😉

Sorry guys, but I don't have much to report😎 This lady is happy. She isn't showing any deficiencies, getting fed 2x a week and she's the largest photoperiod in the garden. I feel like these weeks of veg are hard to fill in. There's so much excitement early on when they're seedlings and you can clearly see their progress from week to week, and then when they flower you're watching those buds closely. But these late weeks of veg there's not much to really report! Just drinking in sunshine and the occasional rain shower. She's happy with her friends😊

Blueberry is still happy, healthy, and the largest photoperiod cannabis plant in the garden😎 I was planning on a little LST and light interior defoliation but I ran out of time, so that'll have to wait until next week. In anticipation of flowering I've added an equal ratio of Neptune's Harvest Fish 2-4-1 for some extra P😜

Sorry all but there's not much to report this week😕 I couldn't seem to find the time I needed to sit down with this girl and do some maintenance and training, but I'll get to it soon😉 Just a couple feeding this week, otherwise the sun and soil and taking care of her for me🙌

On 7/25 I finally got some time to spend with this girl because my Sunday Farmers Market was postponed a day due to rain, so I got pretty wet out in the garden😅 I removed the discolored fan leaves that were't getting enough light and a few interior branches growing inward that wouldn't amount to much. I used 4' bamboo stakes and PGarden EZ Soft Plant Ties to train her main branches out for better air circulation and light penetration. Since it won't be long until they start flowering I decided to give them a bit more P&K with the Neptune's Harvest Rose & Flowering and some good old fashioned Crosby's Molasses to get that sugar production going😋 After I was finished I brought the trim leaves back with me for my horse since he loves snacking on them😉

Alright all, it's been awhile since I've been able to update so I have a couple weeks to catch up on. Unfortunately my cheap phone was having issues last week and I had to do a deep clean and got rid of some photos, photos I though I'd uploaded to my drive that I actually hadn't. I seriously could have kicked myself. But thankfully I at least have a video instead of nothing. So on August 1st I got some spent hardwood substrate blocks from a mushroom farmer down the road. I crumbled the blocks around the base of each plant and watered them in. The purpose of putting the blocks down is that they still have live mycelium in them, and the mycelium creates a symbiotic relationship with the cannabis plant and it's root structure. The cannabis roots can only take up so much surface area, but the mycelium can take up the space the roots do not and form a network where in exchange for sugars the mycelium will provide nutrients for the cannabis plants. Also, watering with the molasses gives the mycelium the sugars it wants. I'm sorry I don't have more pictures, I wasn't even thinking when I was cleaning up my phone because I was so frustrated with it (there's a reason LG stopped making phones recently). It's just been wayyyyyyyy more busy than I expected or wanted it to and I've had hardly any time in the garden. It's all this rain! Last year I was complaining about how there wasn't enough rain, now this year there's plenty of it. When I'm not doing Garden stuff I'm working part time with my husband doing landscaping and tree work, which includes mowing lawns. Last year with the drought we were mowing lawns maybe every 2 weeks. This year it's every 4-5 days. It's crazy.

Blueberry😀 I mean there's not much to say other than how much of a champ this girl is😎 She's the biggest plant in the garden, she has great color, has been strong from the start and is now building some flowers that look like they're going to be massive💪 I am so excited to see just how big she's going to get, and also what her flowers are going to look like this fall when the weather starts cooling off and she gets some purple😍 Like I said... She's a Bad Mama Jama

14hrs 3 mins daylight Blueberry is still doing fantastic! At this point it's getting difficult to get the whole plant in frame taking a photo from the pathway. She has completely surpassed me in height and has really stretched the past couple weeks. I may need a ladder when it comes time to harvest😜 A couple weeks ago I put down some spent mushroom substrate blocks and I was pleased to see a little baby Blue Oyster had popped out under her. The mycelium are alive and thriving above the soil, so let's hope it's the same story below🙌 We're having a heat wave this week, the past couple days have been over 100F in the sun. I fed and watered everyone this morning, praying for thunderstorms this afternoon!🙏

Another very busy week😵 So I did a video. I hope you enjoy😬

13 hrs and 33 mins of daylight when I took these pics on 8/27 There's not much to say other than that this Girl is a beast. I'd say she's pushing 7 feet, I've been just guessing height, but I should probably get an accurate measurement on the plants next week. It's hard to get her in frame! I was a bit lax with feeding this week so her color isn't as good as it could be but I should have more time going into September to really put the juice to these girls so they have a strong finish💪

Finally getting around to uploading for the week of 9/5- Good thing I've been making videos! Blueberry is the reigning queen of the garden, She's just awesome😎 Defoliated interior and top dressed with a cup of Down to Earth Minerals Vegetable Garden 4-4-4 over the roots and put a layer of compost on top to lock it in. We've been getting a lot of rain and I really don't need to water so the dry nutrients make sense, and saves time.

Update for the week of 9/12 Unfortunately I wasn't able to upload these right after I took them, I pushed my migraine a bit too far when I took the photos and videos so I had to hide from the world. Blueberry is still just amazing... and beautiful... and huge.... and smells sweet and fruity😋 She responded well to the Down to Earth minerals top dressing I gave everyone last week, they all did, but I wanted them to have some sugar this week so I switched back to liquid nutes for this week. Otherwise I think everything is in the videos. Happy growing to all of you! I'm not going to try and make any promises about "Oh I should have more time to update" because that clearly has not been happening since I've been saying it the past couple weeks, so I guess stay tuned and thank you to all who have been checking in!