More Strawberry Plants

Shortly after I purchased my house, my next door neighbor informed me that the original owners (there were only two other that owned the home before me), had tried growing some strawberry plants on the western side of my home. Now, there is a narrow strip of soil that runs along that side of the house that is dedicated to planting. The soil there isn't all that great (it's a bit sandy), but it's not that bad either, and that strip of soil only gets the afternoon sun (I think it only gets about four hours of sunlight). Furthermore, that strip of soil lines up directly underneath the eaves of my roof, so it doesn't get any water when it rains; thus, the plants growing there must be drought tolerant or require lots of hand-watering.

Well, last spring I chose that spot as one of the first spots to start my outdoor "cleaning." There were lots of dead bermuda grass, weeds, and "stuff" growing all over. Furthermore, the previous owners left behind several tires in that area. During my clean up, I did see several of the strawberry plants and I chose to leave the plants alone. Seriously, I think I only saw at most two to three plants, consisting only of leaves. I opted to just let the plants be. I thought the plants were going to die due to the non-ideal growing conditions in that area and the fact that I was not going to protect the plants from the harsh winter. At the time, I also didn't want to keep the plants. As I posted earlier, I already had other strawberries in mind and I really only wanted to grow one variety of strawberry.


Fast forward to this spring. I finally established my small vegetable garden beds and two of my three remaining raised beds. (I have a total of six raised beds that I built to put into my garden, and last spring I established three raised beds for my two raspberry plants and my one blackberry plant.) I was planting some more drought tolerant plants in that strip of soil on the western side of my home when I saw that the strawberry plants were still alive and had multiplied. Yes, the plants were a bit wimpy looking, but it was also fruiting too. Do you see the little pink and red spots in the above picture, amid all the weeds (and, yes, those are the aforementioned tires)?


Although, I do not know the variety of this strawberry plant, I believe that it is a June-bearing strawberry plant (meaning that it will only provide fruit once during the year, specifically in June and maybe early July) because it propagates by sending out runners. Do you see that little runner (in front of the hand trowel) coming out of the "mother" strawberry plant in the above picture? In digging up the other plants around that area, I noticed theses plants propagated by runner plants. It's my understanding that everbearing strawberry plants (like the Mara des Bois strawberry plants) very rarely send out runners, but June-bearing strawberry plants send out lots of runners.


How could I not give this strawberry plant a proper home? It has survived all of these years and continued to grow and multiply in less than ideal conditions. Plus, those little wee strawberries are too cute, even though I know that they're so small due to not having sufficient sun and soil. So, I dug up the plants and planted them in my last raised bed this morning. Lets see what happens next spring. In addition to next spring, I may have to wait another year to get a sufficient harvest of strawberries. Oh well, I didn't pay anything for the strawberry plants and I think I did right by using what I have around the home, rather than going out and buying more plants.

More Blueberry Plants

I am unintentionally starting a collection of blueberry plants. I am not on the road to hoarding blueberry plants (although, another person would think I am), but I am beginning to accumulate several blueberry plants.

Several years ago, when I first decided that I wanted to start growing my own blueberries, I purchased several plants, in which the following three blueberry variety survived: St. Cloud, Northland, and Bluecrop. Those three are still alive this spring (and producing fruit) and are planted in pots (see the pictures above). Then last year at the end of summer, on a whim, I went to a local hardware/home store and found two blueberry plants on clearance. I couldn't say no, even though one was missing a tag and I have no idea what variety it was. Then this spring, I purchased three more plants, where I got two for 50% off. So I think I have a total of eight blueberry plants. Of the eight, only two are the same variety; thus I have seven different types of blueberry plants.

I am planting the most recent blueberry plants I purchased into the ground. The two I purchased last year were planted into the ground and survived the winter (the unknown variety even has fruit on it). So far the plants seem to be doing fine. I might move those two plants this spring (it's summer but still feels like a lousy spring) to a sunnier spot. Overall, I am hoping that they will all do well in the ground. I'm always worried about my soil not being acidic enough, but I think I can always amend my soil.

Okay, no more blueberry plants. But I'm not making any promises.

Frogs and Toads

Okay, so I have yet to see a frog in my yard, but I've seen at least two toads. On both occasions, I was startled and I even let out a yelp (and both were little cute toads). Across the street from my property is a woodsy lot where I can hear the nightly chorus of amphibians, so I know that these little animals are close to my home. But, at heart, I'm a city girl. I know I have toads in my yard, but it's a bit shocking to see it up close when one is actually in front of me (even little cute ones). Having toads in the garden is normal, but I just don't "see" them too often. I don't know if I'm making any sense, but I think I'm digressing . . .

I really do welcome toads (and frogs) in my garden because I believe that they are beneficial in minimizing the many insects and mosquitos that run rampant in my garden. As I stated before, I do not spray insecticide or pesticide on my property, nor do I "bomb" my property for mosquitoes. As I've mentioned elsewhere, the main reason I don't spray is because I'm trying to grow an edible landscape. I already consume enough insecticide and pesticide through the foods I purchase from the store, so why add to it. At the same time, my property borders a lake and I also don't want to further contribute to the insecticide/pesticide runoff that goes into the lake. I don't know if all of my neighbors spray their immaculate lawns, although I suspect that some do.

I'm debating if I should just let things be in my yard or actually try and attract more toads to my yard (e.g. put out little dishes of water, create a rock garden, etc.,). My brother mentioned to me the other morning that I have a lot of toads in my yard. I know that I have toads in my yard, but do I really have a lot of toads in my yard? My brother tends to be a bit melodramatic, so I've just been thinking. What to do . . .

Edible Landscaping

Have I mentioned to you all that I love reading blogs (especially gardening blogs)? I often get very inspired by other gardeners and what they have growing in their gardens. Although I very rarely leave comments, there are several blogs that I frequent often. I also troll on Google's blog webpage, searching for any garden related posts for reading material to pass the time. Not only do I find blogs to be very inspirational, but also informative and often indicative of the current trends (including trends within trends).

What has been popular the last few years in the gardening world is the fact that many people are trying to start their own gardens (may it be on plots of land, raised beds in the front yard, container gardening on the balcony, etc.,), and are incorporating edible landscaping into their gardens. This movement is part of a bigger movement, in which many are trying to grow their own food, eat locally, and trying to garden more sustainably.

It's my understanding that edible landscaping means, not only using plants in and around the garden to beautify or landscape the home but the plant also has an edible component. For example, a cherry tree or crabapple tree not only beautifies the home's landscape (e.g. providing beautiful blossoms in the spring) but also provides fruit for consumption. This is also true of blueberry bushes and many other fruiting plants. One can also use prennials and herbs, like chives and sage, to not only add color and interest into the garden, but also for food purposes too. It would seem almost impossible to not have edible landscaping in a garden (considering how many plants there are out there that have an edible component to it), but I am reminded of the many English formal gardens, which are really beautiful, but generally are created with plants that are not edible.

In reading all of these blogs, I just think it's funny that I have unintentionally created my own edible landscaping. There are definitely flowers and plants that I love having in my garden that are not edible, but I admit that many of the plants in my garden were planted because I wanted to be able to grow my own food and were not planted to beautify my yard.

Morello Cherry Tree

I hope you can see this cherry tree. It's a bit slim and short right now (it's as tall as my waist), but it could grow up to be at least six-feet tall (I think).

I planted this tree earlier in May and I'm only getting around to writing about (it has been a busy spring and summer). Anyhow, I ordered this fruit tree last summer and it was sent to me this spring. So far, the tree is doing fine. I hope it will survive the winters here.

I purchased this tree because I was wanting another cherry tree. Since moving, my new home doesn't have a cherry tree. I decided to leave my Mesabi cherry tree at my old home. I was thinking about digging it out, but I decided that it was best to leave the cherry tree there rather than risk killing it by digging it out.

So, I was looking for a new sour cherry tree. It's my understanding that the morello cherry tree has been around for a long time and its fruit is commonly used as pie filling. It's also my understanding that it's a cherry tree commonly found in England, but not so much here in the United States (e.g. sometimes it's referred to as "English Morello Cherry"). I know it's been used to breed with other cherry trees to create new varieties of cherry trees. Anyhow, the fruit is supposed to be a dark red and the juice runs red. It will be at least two more years before I get any fruit, but I'm hoping for yummy fruit. Can't wait to start baking and jamming with the fruit.

Oh Well, I Still Have a Garden

Okay, so there was no spring this year. It was really cold for the longest time, then it was really rainy, and now it's hot and humid. So, if there was a spring (for those eternal optimists), it was a very short spring. I still think it was a non-spring and it interfered with my preparation of the vegetable garden and with my planting.

So what else does this non-spring mean for me? It meant that almost all of the plants I have in my garden this year were bought from the store as seedlings. Early in the spring, I started several tomato and pepper plants from seeds but only the pepper seedlings survived. Then, after I planted the pepper seedlings into the ground, only one survived. Since I really wanted a vegetable garden really bad, I opted to buy the plants from the store. Yes, I'm disappointed, but at least I still have a garden this year.

Taking Stock

I love growing my own fruits. It can be pretty labor intensive, but I think it's so worth the effort. During each particular fruit's fruiting season, I try not to buy that fruit at the store and just wait for my fruit to ripen. It can be hard to wait, especially when I want immediate gratification, but like the old saying goes, some things are just worth waiting for.

Since I've started growing my own fruits, I've noticed a significant taste difference between the fruit I get from my own garden as compared to the fruit from the stores. I am not a fruit snob, but I will admit that at some point, it's getting hard to justify why I should be paying $3.50 to $4.00 for a pint of raspberries that is partially moldy and lacking in flavor. I've noticed that the fruits I grow often have a better flavor (probably due to the variety I've chosen to grow) and just tastes better.

One of the other reasons why I like to wait for my own fruits to ripen is due to the fact that I don't use any pesticides on my fruit plants. There are lots of articles out there about certain fruits and vegetables containing large amount of pesticides that are hard to wash off (e.g. due to the fruit's fragility, the fruit's thin skin) and get consumed along with the fruit. You can check out this article at this website: http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/nutrition/a/pesticides.htm. Of course, if you can eat organic, then go organic. Still eating organic is pretty expensive and I've chosen to grow my own fruits. This is not to say that I will not eat fruit out of season or not buy non-organic fruits from the store. I only merely like to grow and garden, and I see a huge benefit in growing, waiting, and eating the fruits that I've grown.

So when I started thinking about writing this post, I also started to think about the various fruit plants I have in my garden. The following is a list of the fruits I am currently growing right now, and I will also try to provide the variety of the fruit I am growing when possible: Apple (Honeycrisp and an unknown variety); Blackberrry (Arapaho or Navajo); Blueberry (Bluecrop, Patriot, St. Cloud, Northsky and two unknown varities); Crabapple (unknown variety); Cherry (Morello); Grapes (concord, and two other unknown varieties); Raspberry (Caroline and Latham); and Plum (Mount Royal). I also have an apricot tree, but it requires a pollinator, meaning another different variety of an apricot tree. Since I have not yet purchased another apricot tree to pollinate the existing apricot tree (the existing tree came with the house), I have not had any apricots. Maybe next year because I still need to determine where I would plant the tree. I keep on thinking that I would like to add another fruit plant/tree to the yard, but it may just be wishful thinking.

Mara Des Bois Strawberry

I've purchased for myself Mara Des Bois Strawberry plants. It's considered a newer strawberry plant, which was developed in France back in the early 1990s and has been made available to the American market in the last few years. I won't go on about the history of this plant because many other blogs have done a wonderful job discussing strawberries and the development of the Mara Des Bois strawberry (see this website for a good read: http://notdabblinginnormal.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/the-strawberry-dance/).

I will, however, let you know that I've established a raised bed for the strawberries and planted the strawberry plants over the weekend. I also read that I will get and should allow the strawberry plants to produce fruit this summer, even though it's the plants first year. To say the least, I'm excited.

So what happened to my other strawberry plants? Well, when moving, I had potted up a lot of the plants. I intended to bring these strawberry plants with me, but I had second thoughts. See, the strawberry plants were given to me from an intern and I didn't know the variety. I believe he may have purchased the plants from a big box store. All I know about the plant is based upon my observations. I believe that it is a June-bearing plant, meaning that it only produced fruit during a 2-3 week period, sometime in June. The strawberries were medium-sized, sweet (what organically homegrown fruit wouldn't be sweet), but I found them to be a bit watery. The plants itself put out a lot of runners, which I found a hassle to keep under control. Overall, I know I could've saved money and kept these strawberry plants, but in the end I believed that I could and should find a better strawberry plant to suit my needs. Thus, I did not bring these strawberry plants with me to my new home.

See, I wanted a strawberry plant that would produce strawberries throughout the summer (known as everbearing strawberries). I also wanted strawberries that would taste like strawberries and not be so watery. At the same time, I didn't have a lot of time to be keeping up several strawberry patches. At my old house, I only had one small patch and it took a lot of energy to keep it weeded, watered, and healthy. It didn't help that my mate at the time (who did not help with the weeding and watering) was too lazy to go and pick the strawberries (even for his own consumption). In addition to the strawberries, I also have other fruits, plants, vegetables, that may also need my attention. Thus, due to time constraints, I am limited to one strawberry patch and I decided that the strawberry I will grow has got to come close to what I want.

This spring, I finally started work on parts of my yard, including my strawberry patch, and came across the Mara Des Bois strawberry in an internet search. It's my understanding that the fruit is very tender and is too perishable for shipping (hey, I don't intend to transport these strawberries anywhere), but definately packs a punch with its strawberry taste. I'll let you know (I hope) how well the strawberry actually lives up to the hype when I get the first strawberry of the summer.

Skeeter Syndrome

I was bit today by three mosquitoes while using my weed-wacker to get rid of weeds. Unfortunately, I had a bad allergic reaction to one of the bites, which is on my right hand. Can you see the HUGE, red bump that has formed on my hand, right underneath my index and middle finger? This has happened before in the past and I've never seen a doctor about it, but in doing my own research, I think I may have a condition known as Skeeter Syndrome. You can read more about it at the following website: http://allergies.about.com/od/insectallergies/a/mosquitoallergy.htm.

I think it depends on the type of mosquito that bites me, but many bites I've received in the past (and the one today) have resulted in my skin swelling and turning red around the bite area. Several bites have not only left my skin swollen and red, but the swelling would grow beyond the bite mark, with the skin getting hot, taut, and feverish. On those occasions, I would use ice cubes to cool down my skin. I don't think the bite is even itchy because the skin is so hot, taut, and a little painful when touched.

I hope I didn't gross you out. At least my mosquito bite isn't itchy, hasn't swollen to encompass the rest of my hand, and it isn't hot when touched.

Gardening To My Heart's Delight

Today is such a beautiful day. The sun came out, there is a slight breeze, and no mosquitoes (yet). I'm currently sitting on my deck and just enjoying the view.

This morning, I got up early and started planting rows of hostas around my home and in the shadier spots. A co-worker needed to thin out her hosta beds so she offered me her plants, so long as I was willing to dig it out. Of course, I wasn't going to say no to free hostas. So yesterday after work, in the rain, I went to her house and dug up lots of hosts. Sad to say, I didn't have enough containers and I took as many as I could, but she still had LOTS of hostas that needed to be thinned out and to be removed.

This morning, I also started my vegetable garden. I originally was going to establish my garden on the southeastern side of my yard, but changed my mind when I saw that the site didn't get enough sun (due to the trees on that side of the yard). So, I've opted for the southwestern side of my yard and hopefully that site will receive at least five hours of sunlight. I've been trying to keep track of the sunlight that my yard gets. Anywhoo, I've already planted four potato buds (two red potatoes, two russett). I just purchased A LOT of tomato plants and hot pepper plants (my little seedlings that I started didn't do well) and will plant them late in the afternoon. I find that the best time to transplant plants is early in the morning or in the late afternoon. This way, the heat from the sun doesn't further distress the plant because the plant is already going through its own shock from the transplant.

I also need to plant my strawberry plants too. Hopefully, my strawberry plants are still alive. I hope to write more about this. Hopefully, I'll keep you updated.