Peat and bark are both good! Yes you are correct peat holds water, bark drains well. Azalea soil will work! You can add peat for more water holding capacity, just be careful with young plants. They need to be moist, but need to dry too, not bone dry. You don't want it wet all the time. You want it evenly moist, as the ideal. Older plants use more water. I agree with you watering daily is no fun, and in my case not always possible. I leave for 3 or 4 days at a time.

The plants needs oxygen too, and so why you want it moist but not wet. When soaking wet it can't breath. If you ever over water, a quick fix is to add 2-4 tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide to a gallon of water.
This will quickly oxygenate the roots. But you still have to wait till it dries out to add.
You learn to read your plant. When it turns slightly red, it is slightly stressed. Too much water, not enough, ph is rising, etc.
BTW I picked about 2 dozen blueberries off one of my plants today. Yum! It has only a few more and my blueberry season is done. I need a later cultivar!
I try to have cultivars that bloom early, mid, late, season and in-between! I still need to add a couple! Fill all those spots!

Your berries look good. Didn't know that different varities produce at different times.good to know. thanks. A cage around your bushes is a terrific idea for helping with birds. I have a net but a small bush. So do you like peat over bark? What can I use for fertilizer? For food organic is best I guess. Is a plastic container ok? I bought a pretty green one.

Yes, plastic is OK, I like a mixture of both peat and bark. But if you could just use the Azalea mix straight. Otherwise you need a mix of peat and bark, not one or the other. You can use many fertilizers. If you go to an independent nursery, not a big box store, those people know their stuff, and ask for an acid fertilizer. Mir acid would work, not ideal, but will work. We did go over this in the last thread.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fruit Ripening Charts