Strawberry update! Way back in January, some Mignonette Strawberry seeds were planted. They took between 10-50 days to germinate in Jiffy pots (packaging says 30-40 days germination), and I got about 60% germination, which is about the expected rate.
When it finally started to warm up above freezing and the wind stopped blowing
all the time, I put them in a little greenhouse on the deck. A few succumbed to the wind, by getting bent, breaking their stem. However, there are about 30 strong survivors so far. I'm trying to keep them out of the strong wind, but cant always predict this, and also trying to keep the little greenhouse situated so it doesn't get blown over by the wind (so far, so good). Here they are today - the one at the bottom of the pic is the largest of these strawberry plants! Apparently they grow a very tasty, but small strawberry, and certainly hope it is worth the wait!
Here is when I began this adventure - with the seed packet and pods:
We also purchased some bare root strawberry plants - a June bearing variety. I followed the directions to soak for 2 hours, then hack off all roots, leaving only about 3" of roots below the crown. They survived and seem to all be healthy, with a few that have the beginnings of a bloom stem. These bare root strawberries are probably 1000x larger than the Mignonettes above!
