Replacing Strawberry Plants

Lori, a friend from work, brought me in some June-bearing strawberry plants for our garden.  She said she got them but has no place to put them, so I thought it was nice of her to think of us!

At one time we thought we had lost 12 of the 24 strawberry plants planted due to the squirrels.  Now, though, several are showing signs of life and trying to come back.  After filling in some spots with the new plants, there is only 1 dead spot in the grid, top row second from right.  If you click the pic you'll see the large version and might even be able to pick it out!

The west bed is looking well still.  Most of the herbs look healthy if not growing much.  The Red Ruben Basil has me a little worried, however.  The garlic is still thriving and I find myself wondering how big they will get by fall.  And at the bottom, the lettuce looks like its ready to be picked...maybe.  We've never grown lettuce before so we'll have to look that up online, I guess.

Well, so far so good, I say.  Even when I was building it, I didn't realize how much enjoyment we would get from watching things grow.  Even better, we have only just begun!

Basil Replacement

Just a small update today.  I planted a new basil plant, the one right in the middle.  We had Sweet Danny Basil there first, but it didn't survive.  Here's a listing of all you can see here:  Along the top is regular Chives, Italian Parsley, and Garlic Chives.  Across the middle are 3 basils; Red Ruben Basil,  Cinnamon Basil and Sweet Basil.  The two herbs below are Sage and Thyme.

Frost Warning

... the last 2 nights.

Thankfully, we had some ratty old sheets on hand to cover the gardens.  I'm not really sure if it did frost either night, but we were prepared just in case.

In the east garden, the strawberry plants are low enough I just had to lay a sheet over everything.  Simple enough.  By the way, we are still looking for some more plants to fill in the gaps made by the squirrels.  I'm sure we'll get some more soon, there is just alot of other things on our minds lately as well.

The west garden was a little trickier.  I wound up using a bunch of unused flower pots upside down over most of the herbs in the top half.  Then some sideways tomatoe cages among the fragile new garlic shoots so the sheet wouldn't break them - and I didn't harm a one!  The lettuce on the bottom is low enough I let the sheet just lay over it.

This is May!   It's not supposed to frost anymore! I don't think there's anything to worry about, but the weather has turned cool and damp lately.  I'm sure we will have some nice growing weather soon! (X-fingers!)

Early Growth and Squirrels

Here is the left (west) garden box.  The herbs in the top half are still alive except the one in the middle, one of the basils.  Below that, no sign of life from the garlic yet.  Along the bottom you can see two rows of lettuce just starting to grow.









And here is the right (east) garden box, the potential strawberry field.  The dang squirrels like to dig them up so we have to do some replanting now and again, but most are looking healthy yet small.  If you look close, you can see the blanks in the grid where the squirrels killed some.  Hopefully we can replace them soon.  It would be nice to have a lush, growing strawberry patch!

Strawberry Fields Forever

I snapped this pic when Kate paused to retrieve the last few strawberry plants this afternoon.  So that's about that, then.  I must still purchase some netting to protect them eventually, but we don't expect more than a sporadic yield this first year.  Hopefully they are firmly established next year and give us a fair bunch.

Now we water, weed, wait and hope for the best...

The Plants Arrive!

When I got home from work yesterday, I found a larger box by the door that I wasn't expecting.  I guess I wasn't sure how they shipped plants, but I found out! 

At right, my wife starts to go through her new plants.  In these bags are small potted plants, some garlic bulbs, and what appears to be a bag of strawberry plant roots.

Kate has decided to go with more of an herb garden, which is fine with me. I've never been crazy about green beans and carrots. The different herbs she grows I know she will use in her cooking all the time, plus we can dry that stuff out and use it year-round.

So, the far garden bed is herbs on the topside (right side in pic) and garlic on the bottomside. Bonus!  We got some free lettuce seeds with the order so Kate made a small row of lettuce along the far garden's bottomside.  I'm crossing my fingers for the lettuce!

Here is where I sat and wrote where things were planted,  the 'Supervisor's Chair,' as neighbor Dave called it.  I haven't said much about him yet (here or on my main blog).  He is a very nice older man, a widower, right next door.  Between Jane and Dave I hope we never have any other neighbors.  Both are very nice, helpful, yet not nosy or intrusive.  Hopefully we have been the same.

The strawberrys bound for the other garden bed are chillin' and will be planted very soon.  Rain is coming this weekend so I hope that helps the plants and doesn't wash them away!

Fencing In The Garden

The fence was not my favorite part of yesterday.  It took up way too many hours of yesterday.  This was probably my least thought-out area.  I developed this idea using leftover bracing just recently.  I'm not sure what I thought I would do before.  I'm still not sure exactly what I'm gonna do about a gateway into the garden... 

Above is the (finally) mostly finished product, at least for this year.  I can plan a better fence/gate next winter.  All that's really left is to make the gate a little more feasable of an entryway for my wife to get in and out, and maybe a little more dirt to top it off.  I think we are supposed to get some rain tomorrow, so I do expect a little more settling of the dirt.

If you have any suggestions on how to easily connect and disconnect 2 chickenwire fences I'd be happy to listen in the comments!  I may end up having to build a gate yet.

A Ton of Dirt

A ton and a half, actually.

Today, one week after I had originally planned, we finally got the twin gardens filled with dirt.  I was hoping it would only take about 20 bags each, boy was I way off.  We went through 80 bags, 40 in each, and more will come as it settles in.  At about 40 pounds per bag, I threw around 3200 pounds of dirt today.  Wow.  My back is sore, yet not injured.  We'll see what it feels like tomorrow...

One of the next things to do is the fence around it.  I've just been making this up as I go along so we'll see how that turns out!

Rain, Rain, Go Away....

Well, I've had the 30 bags of dirt since Monday but haven't had a chance to fill the garden yet.  It hasn't rained all day every day, but always in the afternoon and evenings when I would have a chance to do it.  Hopefully soon.  I have a few extra days off coming up and would like to get some serious R & R instead of work work work.

Also, I've been looking ahead to fencing and netting.  Both will be a necessity with all the critters in the neighborhood.  My wifes plants will be arriving soon so now's the time!

Installation Successful

Last night (Wednesday), Our friends Bridget and Zubin were kind enough to come over to help move the boxes to their permanent destination behind the garage. Moving and placing them only took a few minutes, and it was so easy with 4 of us it was almost silly. So since it was so nice out, probably the warmest so far this spring, we planned on a few drinks and grilling out brats (and a veggie burger). It was alot of fun!

Today after work I went out and leveled them, top to bottom in the above pic from yesterday.  They slope down to the left away from the garage for drainage.  I also filled in the ruts I dug out around and under the sides so they would just fall into place.  I think we're gonna get rain Friday night and Saturday which I hope will be good to settle the dirt so I can pack it in on the sides again.  I'm hoping all is dry enough for Sunday so I can start the filling in process.  I'll have to stop procrastinating and get the new wheelbarrow put together by then!