hardly any rains for the past few months.

the harvest was enough for us to put some jam
and frozen berries in the freezer, have a few rounds
of shortcakes and i gave about 10lbs away to my
brother and a friend. that was it.

having covered the large patch way out back
meant i wasn't expecting as much as some previous
years.

a spot of grass i'm digging out of the green
manure patch is going to become a new strawberry
patch but i'm also trying to think of other
plants i can work in back there. i need other
ground covers that give berries (not bushes,
no thorns, can survive clay with some mulch or
other plants around).

any ideas come to mind?

i have a spot of white clover to move and i
thought i would trial that being mixed in with
the strawberries and other plants. i'll have
to keep the area watered and add some mulch to
give the surface more organic matter, late June
is not the best time to move anything, but...

since this area may be disturbed again (to get
at any remaining grasses that try to show up that
i may have missed this time around) i'll be able
to see how things work together and what survives
back there.

one good thing with all this digging and the
heat i'm sweating and working off about 1lb a day.

the other good thing is that i get to check out
how the various plants in that space have developed
and changed the soil from what it used to be like
when i first planted it (very pale clay). the top
8 inches or so are much darker and there is plenty
of signs of worms and even something close to
topsoil in spaces... the grasses i may not like
but they are good companion plants to alfalfa and
trefoil. i just want something other than grasses.

i have creeping jenny and creeping phlox, but
not enough to cover a large space. buckwheat,
turnips and radishes are my easy fill in a new
area plants. hmm...


songbird