Meliors Ruth

My textile art can be viewed at www.meliors.net. I repurpose old blankets and natural fibres with embroidery, crochet and other handmade techniques to make installations and individual pieces that respond directly to environmental issues, especially extraction and more recently industrial agriculture. My intention with these works is to make art that is beautiful enough for people to be able to hold their attention to the issues I raise, such as mining disasters, oil spills and climate change. Mostly it seems hard for people to look straight at these issues for long because its so ugly and depressing to contemplate.
However, I got frustrated with this subtle approach and lately I've started making banners for use in protests and rallies.

Hi, I'm new to the forum. I've just moved to a new property and am starting from scratch. The soil is mostly clay which will probably take at least a year to get into shape for direct planting; time to spend observing/researching/planning/dreaming, while I continue to grow mostly in containers.

However I have been given a dozen fruit trees that need to get planted now (in NZ's wet winter before the long dry summer starts). The blueberry is proving the biggest challenge to locate because of its peaty needs. I'm looking at a big old oak half barrel that came with the property, as a medium-long term home for it. Would it be appropriate to put some rotten stumps and fresh shrub cuttings in the bottom half of the barrel and then fill the top half with compost/potting mix with added sulpher, finally mulching with bark? Or will the wood of the barrel rot in those conditions?

Also, if barrel planting is an ok idea, what would be good blueberry guild plants for the barrel?