Given the firepower that me and Max threw at it, you would think mulching a single row of our blueberry patch, albeit the single longest row, would be a fairly quick task. I started out with just the green tractor. It has the bigger bucket and is much more efficient than the small tractor at scooping things like dirt and mulch … and interesting stories.
The John Deere could get the mulch to the plants but it took human labor with pitch forks to do the fine work, unloading the mulch carefully around each plant. The mulch was placed atop recently installed geotextile fabric which should, in combination, resolve the problems with weedy infestation in the berry patch. Despite the fact that each scoop holds nearly a cubic yard of mulch, this bucket full could only be stretched to cover 8 plants. It was time to call in the calvary.
Max drove the little blue tractor pulling the 12 foot trailer. We could squeeze nearly 4 yards of mulch on it with a little hydraulic encouragement and an hour and a half later ( or three “water breaks” for Max ) we had emptied this trailer and completed 2/3rds of the row. This row is a little longer than a football field with berry shrubs every 4 to 6 feet. We mulched heavily enough to protect the shallow root zone of the plants but thin enough to make each scoop of mulch count. After all, mulch is ecologically and economically expensive.
When this job was completed everyone cheered. This row of plants appears much happier, or at least I imagine they are, and both the John Deere and I felt a great sense of accomplishment. Anybody who says farming isn’t hard work is crazy. The end result is worth it, though, as we can expect pints of delicious blueberries in a few weeks time. We hope you will stop by for a peek, but call ahead to see what’s available – 336.351.1050.
