No photos today. I was rushed to get some gardening in yesterday and I never even thought about photos.
Thursday my strawberry plants showed up on my doorstep. I had ordered Surecrop strawberries. I have some disease in the strawberry bed. Last year I got barely any strawberries. I figured Surecrop might be able to out grow the disease. Sadly most of the strawberry diseases that it might be will stick in the soil for years (a decade even). So removing them and waiting isn't an option. If I can't find a variety that will grow here, then I can't have strawberries. That would be so sad. I love strawberries. One variety that I have - Earliglow - has decent resistance. We will see if they do OK this year. They produced a bit last year. Sadly the Sparkle is susceptible to a lot of things. I still have a few plants of that which seem to be doing OK. I'm not going to rip them out, but if they fail again this year, I will.
I also prepared one more 4'x 8' bed. This has peas along the back foot of the bed and mixed herbs and greens in the front. I planted 4 Ventura celery, 4 Tango celery, 4 celeriac, 6 fennel, 12 lettuces (Red sails, Deer Tongue, Little Gem, and Paris Island), 4 parsley plants, and 4 marjoram. I also scattered some winter savory around the garden. I hope some of it tastes like it is supposed to. Last year the one plant that survived tasted like lemons. I suppose that isn't a terrible thing, but it wasn't what I was going for.
I'm running out of transplants. I have three things left that I grew from seed. I have chard, broccoli, and zinnias. I'm going to try to get to them on Sunday and Monday. I also have to start my basil plants. Basil is the only summer plant that I grow inside as a transplant. Though I suppose the zinnias probably count too. I never really noticed it before but all my summer plants (corn, beans, cucumbers, melons, squash, sweet potatoes) I either direct seed or they don't grow from seeds. OK only the sweet potatoes don't grow from seeds. I know a lot of people start the summer crops indoors, but I've never done that. Sometimes I chit the seed, but that is far as I go for those seeds anymore. They are just too easy to direct seed and I've found that getting the early start really doesn't help them all that much.
So I'm guessing that you can't use a different bed for your strawberries? That would be too bad if you had to stop growing them. I'm currently overrun with transplants - I'm still in the process of finishing off the beds where they will go & I'm hoping that this delay won't hurt them too badly.
ReplyDeleteI hope your strawberries do well now. We love strawberries here but I only have a few growing. Nancy
ReplyDeleteHi. I read that if broccoli spent more than a week at nighttime temps below 50 degrees they will bolt; 45 degrees for celery and celeriac...I would love to put mine out now, but we've had nights in the mid-40's and occasionally the mid-30's lately here in NJ, so I've been waiting. Anna
ReplyDeleteI still have strawberry plants growing like crazy on the hill by the house but they don't get any strawberries :( We did plant some at the Club though and have already gotten our first strawberry from them. :)
ReplyDeleteI've never been able to grow a decent crop of strawberries. Hopefully that will change if not this year than next. Funny because I start almost everything indoors expect for peas, fava beans, carrots and turnips.
ReplyDelete