The Heeling Process

This is, Bluey White, my dwarf blueberry bush that came a few days ago. (I stole the name from my uncle, who used to imagine he was Bluey White, boss of the county. Since I name everything, I thought it fit a blueberry plant with white flowers. Not that anyone cares but me.)

Bluey looked robust and ready to grow. The problem was all that snow on the ground. While I was waiting for the snow to melt, I needed to heel him in, inside.

Heel in, is another one of those, honest to God, no kidding,  fifty-cent gardening words that means, planting in a temporary spot. As in, dig with your heel. I love it.

I like to use it because it sounds so, well, not technical like me. In fact, I’m putting together an unabridged dictionary of terms I’ve heard country folks use over the years. Heel in, will have this sentence included in the definition. “Reckon if the sun shines tomorrow, I might-could heel in ole Bluey out behind the outhouse.” Again, not that anyone cares ‘cept me.

Reality is, it’s in the gardening books and it’s one of the few garden jargon words I know, so I say it a lot. It makes me feel phmart!

Awwww, yeah. Moving on!  So I put rocks in the bottom of a pot, then added a mixture of dirt, compost and coffee grounds. Blueberry bushes love acidic soil. And I like coffee (acidic), so I figure we’ll go together like peas and carrots. The roots were bound up pretty bad, so I teased them, until they were loose and planted my little Bluey in the soil mixture. This is what he looked like when he was heeled in.

I might pick up a whiskey barrel for him to live in permanently when I’m in the big city onFriday, then we’ll plant him for good.

It’s all part of the heeling process.

Simply,

Sandhill Sis

Tags: garden, heel in, organic gardening, planting a blueberry bush