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The new and improved Strawberry Patch
After 2 years of first planting the ever bearing strawberries we haven’t managed to get a decent harvest. This probably has more to do with my own inability to keep the strawberries weeded and the high clay consistency in the soil than the plants themselves. Therefore this year we are restarting the patch in a slightly raised bed with some Honeoye variety and a few ever bearing transplanted from the existing patch. We’re going to need to build up the soil with compost to allow them to thrive. Looks a little sparse now but as we’ve seen strawberries like to propagate. Hopefully I can keep the patch weeded, physical distancing…
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Eternally Multiplying Strawberries
Looks like I didn’t need to move the strawberry seedlings after all as the original plants are running. The migrated plants have twice as many runners as the original plants but I’m thinking we’ll go from 2 original rows (20) plants to 5 or 6 rows (~80) plants by the end of the year. I’ve been told strawberries grow like weeds but I’m just starting to grasp what that means. I’m seeing 100+ berries already on our just the original 20 plants so it boggles the mind how many we’ll end up with in a year or 2. U-Pick at the Ridge may just be in order. Currently we’ve got…
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August expanding the Strawberry Patch
The best part of working on the garden is spending time with the kids. August acts all grown up and there isn’t anything he can’t do. We expanded the patch to 3 rows last week but today we increased it to 4 rows. All in total we have 55 Strawberry Plants in the Garden. I was wandering the yard and there are several more up by the patio as well. Those squirrels sure get around. I’m quite content with increasing the patch from 20 to 55 plants over 1 year. So no more transplants this year. We’ll see how much yield we get and if we’ll keep the patch this…
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Reminder: Water any seedlings or moved plants
Spent this Mother’s Day over at Sycamore Hill Gardens. Beautiful grounds with a coy pond, stepping stones, fairy garden, hedge maze and so much more. They hold a Mother’s Day Garden Tour that Elaine and I enjoy as it is the place to relax outdoors and the kids have so much fun feeding the fish and running the maze. I recommend it to anyone who lives in the Central New York area. This leads me to my words of warning. Remember to water, water, water any seedlings or plants you move. 7 of the strawberries we moved last night were wilted when I watered the garden 22hrs later… I’ll have…
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An Unexpected Bounty of Strawberries
Lo’ and behold August and I were hoeing the garden to plant some watermelon seeds when we had to double take what we were scraping up. To my surprise there were Strawberry plants growing 25 feet away from my Strawberry Patch. As far as I can tell a squirrel must have sat on the fence eating some strawberries last year and seeded the area with more strawberries. Time to move the plants down to the existing patch. Now with the plethora of strawberries “planted” time to work on the Watermelons. On the scale of snacks it goes #1 Apples, #2 Watermelon and #3 Cherries. I prefer to hoe the planting…
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Caprice’s perspective of the garden
Its always fun when the kids want to help, cooking, cleaning, building, gardening or what not. Today Caprice wanted to help in the garden but decided to instead take photos as its something she’s gotten more and more into. Without further adieu The Garden a la Caprice.
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Cherry Blossoms! and more
Spring blossoms are so rewarding! I love enjoying the outdoors but there is something especially nice in seeing plants mature and thrive. Last year we got a few apple blossoms but nothing from the Cherry Trees. This year 2 of the cherry trees have a few dozen blossoms. Wait a few years and the whole yard will be a bloom! Take a moment and stroll the yard with me.
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Cleaning the Strawberry Patch
With the ground softened up and all the new trees & bushes planted its time to turn my hand to the garden. Pulled up the caging from last year and its exciting to see new growth on all of the strawberry plants. A bit of weeding to do but manual labor is good for the body and lets the mind wander. Hopeful we’ll see some runners this year and can get the patch to double in size.
