Reuse Recipe: Pine Needles

Pine needles are a natural way to make the soil more acidic. Our soil tends to be slightly acidic here, but blueberries and huckleberries thrive in acidic conditions.  I mixed them with composted rabbit manure when I planted the new blueberry bushes and also spread them around as mulch.

Blueberry bush with pine needle mulch

 This picture shows the front landscaping progress. I am slowly switching the foundation plantings to edibles. There are 3 blueberry bushes and the rhubarb so far. Next week I will finish taking out the holly bush and put the other currant plant there along with another blueberry in the corner.  I am trying to make this transition slowly so that they landscaping around our house does not look too crazy in the meantime.  All the blueberries will eventually be 3-5 ft tall and the currants up to 6 feet tall.  I am planning to trim them in "hedge" shapes once they are well-established.