To continue the tale of my new highbush BB bushes (see my previous post in this forum)...

Planted mid-April. I removed old & dying rhodies & azaleas. The farmer who helps me (because my husband refuses) planted 2 arneson gem azalea, 2 bluejay BB, 1 PA native BB, blue prince and princess holly, and 1 Chinese lacebark pine. The BB bushes are in front.

Once all was planted, he added good-quality brown mulch.

It's rained a lot, and the blueberries look a bit peaked--not many leaves, part of one died, and weird-looking bark. (I also forgot I wasn't supposed to let them fruit.)

I asked for advice here, and got it: fertilize. This morning I removed the mulch to do that, and winced.

The soil around the BB bushes was completely covered by weed fabric. I understand that water goes through it, but it seemed that it would be difficult for the soil to dry--and it was indeed very wet.

So--I hope this wasn't wrong--I removed the fabric all around the bushes. Careful not to disturb the roots, I gently worked a mix of peat moss and compost into the wet soil. Then I sprinkled 10-10-10 and soil acidifier onto the much-drier soil and gently worked that in as well. (I didn't use much of either--too scared, as these are new bushes).

Now the bushes are minus the weed fabric and mulch, so the soil can dry a bit. Is it OK to put back the brown mulch, or should I use pine-bark nuggets around the BB bushes?

Sorry for the length. I hope I didn't screw them up. It just seemed like the soil would never dry with that fabric there, and I don't mind weeding around the bushes.

Did I do right, or wrong? If the latter, any suggestions as to how to rectify?