Although they are native to the eastern United States, there is growing proof that with the correct varieties, it is possible to successfully grow blueberries here in the southwest.   When selecting blueberries to grow at your place, choose varieties that are suited for our warm, wet coastal winters that annually have very few chill hours.  Also, by selecting two different, yet compatible varieties of blueberry, you will increase the quality of your pollination.  Ask your local, knowledgeable, nurseryman for help in determining which strains are right for your area. Blueberries are deciduous bushes that can grow up to 6’ tall, and be equally as wide. Plant in a sunny, well-draining location, that has a moist, cool soil, that ranges towards the acidic side.  When you are ready to plant your blueberry, dig a hole 18” deep by 18” wide.  Into the bottom of this hole, add 2 heaping handfuls of compost and 2 cups each of landscape mix, cottonseed meal, worm castings and azomite.  Mix these ingredients around with some of the excavated soil, and then place the root ball of the plant down into the hole.  Fill in the hole with the remaining soil, stopping to incorporate an additional two cups of compost, landscape mix, cottonseed meal and worm castings with every 5 inches of soil.  Once in the ground, keep a 3-4” layer of mulch under the drip-line of the plant.   For the first year in the ground, you will want to encourage foliar plant development and not let the plant expend any of its energy on fruit production.  As hard as it will be to do, you need to remove all of the flowers before they set fruit.  This difficult task will set the stage for increased fruit production in the future.   Blueberries can flower profusely, and as a result can set more fruit than they can successfully grow out to maturity.  To counter this, we advise trimming the branch tips back several inches, to the point on the branches where the fruits become evenly spaced.   Keep the plant well-watered during the period that it is producing fruit.