Preparing for blueberries

I got an email from Gurneys the other day.  They were having an "up to 60% off" sale.  So I ordered 3 types of blueberry plants.  I don't know when they'll ship, but I figured now was a good time to get the ground ready.

I'm going to put the blueberry plants in the beds around my patio.  I started by digging a trench.  I had several layers of soil here.  The stuff on top wasn't too bad.  I put it off to the side to be used later.  Then I had about 6" of sand.  Under that was 6" of clay. 

I threw some rotten wood in the bottom.  This is my attempt at hugelkultur.  I've never tried it before, but the idea is simple.  You bury wood.  Preferably rotten wood.  The wood acts like a sponge and holds water.  It's supposed to reduce how much and how often you have to water the plants.  Additionally, the wood will compost, and put nutrients into the soil.

I don't know if this step was necessary or not.  I added water to pre-soak the wood.

Then I added a good two wheel barrow loads of compost right on top of the wood.

The final step was to return the inch or two of soil that had been there previously.

I've gotten plants from Gurneys before.  The roots should be small enough that there will be plenty of room between them and the buried wood.  There's a good 6 inches of compost on top of those logs.