What did you do in the garden today?

[saysfaa]

Why don't you just leave the strawberry plants in the bed and cover them with compost?

Strawberry plants are very sensitive to the depth they are in the soil. If the crown (where the roots meet the stems) is a bit too deep or a bit too high then the plant will not survive. If it is a tiny bit one way or the other, then it will survive long enough to get your hopes up but will never do well. And then it dies.

I'm not very good at it. I get it right then mess it up when I water them. We've planted strawberries at all but one of the houses we've lived in and I still try but mostly get a good patch from the runners when they plant themselves at the right depth

 

[saysfaa]

... I just don't understand why people are buying new strawberry plants after 2 years if you can replant the runners and restart the clock?

We have when we move. It usually isn't a good time of year to transplant and we have a lot of higher priorities.

My grandparents had a four year cycle - buy one year picking off the blossoms and runners that year, harvest the berries and weed out the runners the second year, harvest the berries and let the runners grow the third year, harvest from the plants grown from the runners the fourth year. Take all the plants out the fifth year.

They had multiple patches so some patches were in different years of the cycle than other patches in any given year.

They cleared the patch the fifth year for disease and pest control, i think. Edit to add - I think it was mostly weed control... the tractor and disk were a lot faster than hand weeding. Hand weeding is only worth the time when the patch is productive enough. That spot didn't get strawberries for several years. And, maybe, because removing the parent plants disturbed the daughter plants too much. Leaving them had the parents/daughters competing for water and nutrients.

My friend transplants the daughters to make new beds. But he gardens for relaxation, mostly. My grandparents would take the time to swing the daughters into a new row between two older rows but not the additional time it would take to fully transplant them.

If I understood and remember it all correctly. I remember it being explained it me. A long time ago. I'm certain of only parts it.

 

[WthrLady]

Where do you get wheat grain for planting from?

Growing wheat here is a total crapshoot, Cereal rye does ok here, which reminds me I need to get some.
I buy wheat from Kansas and Minnesota.

 

[Sueby]

I'm on the 3rd year with my strawberries & they are doing great, despite neglect this year. I bought bare roots from Nourse & fertilize with berry-tone early spring & then late spring. The first year I covered with straw for winter, last winter, because of surgery, I didn't get them covered but they still did fine - very mild winter here. I'm abandoning the 2 raised beds of them (again, back issues) & will be buying new bare roots in the spring to go in the greenstalk.

I managed the runners the first year, 2nd year it all got out of hand, lol.

2 beds this spring & a haul:

 

[Sueby]

Hey, for those that have grown edamame - do they get bugs? Or pretty trouble free like beans? Trying to decide where to put them next year. & will a cattle panel trellis be good, or overkill? Or do they not need support?

 

[gtaus]

Why don't you just leave the strawberry plants in the bed and cover them with compost?

Well, that's an interesting idea. I was out this morning and looked at that strawberry raised bed and the soil level is down about 6 inches. If I filled it up with 6 inches of compost, I am assuming that the strawberry plants would be killed off. Are you suggesting that is what I should do rather than digging out the strawberry plants first?

Or would the strawberry plants fight to grow through 6 inches of compost? I would not want that if I plant some annuals in that raised bed.

Others have suggested that I could save the strawberry runners and start them somewhere else as new plants.

 

[Tstraub]

Maybe you could tarp the small tiller outside and keep it? No doubt, if I sold one of my tillers, the next week I would need it and forever regret selling it. But that's my luck.

Today I discovered that if I set the wheels to the lowest position and fold the handlebars down it will tuck nicely under the workbench. So I gave it a good wash, greased all the moving parts, ran some fuel stabilizer through it, and tucked it away. Hopefully future me appreciates the time I spent today to make things go as smoothly as possible next time I need to bring it out of storage

 

[fuzzi]

Strawberry plants are very sensitive to the depth they are in the soil. If the crown (where the roots meet the stems) is a bit too deep or a bit too high then the plant will not survive. If it is a tiny bit one way or the other, then it will survive long enough to get your hopes up but will never do well. And then it dies.

I'm not very good at it. I get it right then mess it up when I water them. We've planted strawberries at all but one of the houses we've lived in and I still try but mostly get a good patch from the runners when they plant themselves at the right depth

I was unclear.

Instead of ripping out the plants, just bury them and let them decompose in the bed.

 

[fuzzi]

Well, that's an interesting idea. I was out this morning and looked at that strawberry raised bed and the soil level is down about 6 inches. If I filled it up with 6 inches of compost, I am assuming that the strawberry plants would be killed off. Are you suggesting that is what I should do rather than digging out the strawberry plants first?

Or would the strawberry plants fight to grow through 6 inches of compost? I would not want that if I plant some annuals in that raised bed.

Others have suggested that I could save the strawberry runners and start them somewhere else as new plants.

The first option, bury and let them decompose in place.

 

[fuzzi]

I pulled a few weeds out of the carrot/turnip beds.

Wind's picking up, time to stay inside.