as of a few days ago i didn't even think i was going
to get around to expanding the first strawberry patch,
but as it turned out the past few days weather was
about perfect for scraping, digging and the forecast
for rain tonight, tomorrow, etc. gives the transplants
some extra settling in moisture.

which is good because the hoses are now packed
away for the season...

the first part of the task involved moving the
merry-go-round aside as it was partially in the
way. it's a small metal round base with five
very small bikes attached to a central stalk
(and they are hinged so they can even be folded
up if needed, but i'm not sure why). the pedals
have long rotted away. the handlebars are also
getting a bit rusted and are now being worked on
to decorate them and keep them from getting
worse -- eventually Ma will paint it, however
this is an aside from where i was a moment ago...

having moved the merry-go-round then the next
step is to scrape the crushed limestone away
from the area and to take up the covering (in
this case old chunks of carpeting). scraping
the limestone up usually ends up leaving a pile
of limestone/dirt/sand leftover which is some-
times worth rinsing out and other times is too
much bother and so gets buried down deep as
fill. in this case the burying down deep option
was a good one as the area is low and can flood
at times for a bit.

digging down to examine the soil is the other
reason to see what's underneath. the area is
low enough that it isn't uncommon to hit springs
when digging, but i wasn't going down that deep.
the top layer of soil was the usual clay with
some sand down about a foot and then we hit the
lighter colored clay and sand mix. that's the
boundary i stop at as it's unlikely any garden
plants are putting roots down that deep. and in
went the crushed limestone and dirt mix.

on top of that goes a deep layer of any
organic stuff i can find (leaves, stuff chopped
up or raked up off the gardens that are done for
the season, cut down and chopped thorn bush,
etc.) this helps add more height and is a long
term source of worm food, but mostly it goes
in there for the height it adds. some friends
brought by seven bags of leaves the other day,
all those got used up, today they brought me
two dozen more bags of leaves. gonna have to
bury those someplace... good exercise, at least
when i don't break my shovel handle, we'll see
how the glue job holds up next time i have to
use it...

then the soil gets put back up on top along
with a nice topcoat of soil mixed with partially
rotted wood chips and the strawberries get
transplanted to give the whole patch some new
residents.

had to haul some water to give them a drink
and expect a good percentage of the plants to
have to struggle because i was not fine tuning
each plant. what plants don't make it become
mulch or worm food for those around them, i'm not
in a spot where i'm short of plants (doesn't
hurt to thin out the first strawberry patch at
all). about all i'll do now is see how it
looks after some rains settle things down and
then sprinkle a few pine needles over the plants
when it gets colder.

i figure by next spring i'll lose a foot of
the height as the leaves and organic materials
get compacted from the soil and rains, then
over the next few years i'll lose another half
foot and then the patch will be ok for a few
more years until i have to add some more organic
stuff to it and to stir things up and thin out
some plants again.

and here i thought it was going to be a quiet
week...


songbird

On Tuesday, October 27, 2015 at 7:13:54 PM UTC-5, songbird wrote:
as of a few days ago i didn't even think i was going
to get around to expanding the first strawberry patch,
but as it turned out the past few days weather was
about perfect for scraping, digging and the forecast
for rain tonight, tomorrow, etc. gives the transplants
some extra settling in moisture.


I gave up on strawberries for years because they quickly turn
into weed patches. Now I am hopeful that I may be able to grow
a few of them in large pots. I'm not sure how well that will
work but I'm going to give it a try.

On 10/31/2015 9:46 AM, Davej wrote:
On Tuesday, October 27, 2015 at 7:13:54 PM UTC-5, songbird wrote:
as of a few days ago i didn't even think i was going
to get around to expanding the first strawberry patch,
but as it turned out the past few days weather was
about perfect for scraping, digging and the forecast
for rain tonight, tomorrow, etc. gives the transplants
some extra settling in moisture.


I gave up on strawberries for years because they quickly turn
into weed patches. Now I am hopeful that I may be able to grow
a few of them in large pots. I'm not sure how well that will
work but I'm going to give it a try.

We grew them in hanging pots under the edge of the carport many moons
ago. They produced prolifically. I don't particularly like strawberries
but the Missus likes them. I like blackberries, dewberries, etc. much
better.

So far this week we've had almost fourteen inches of rain and it's still
falling. I think we've had about three feet of rain this year already
and there's more coming.

On 10/31/2015 08:40 AM, George Shirley wrote:

dewberries

Made me look that one up. I thought you were joking at first,
but then found them on Wikipedia. They said they grow in
northern clims.

How do you think they would do in Northern Nevada: freezing
winters (20 to 30F), hot summers (90-100F), and very low
humidity ( 10%), and one particular back thumb wannabe
Gardener?

And do the bugs leave them alone?

On 10/31/2015 4:06 PM, T wrote:
On 10/31/2015 08:40 AM, George Shirley wrote:

dewberries

Made me look that one up. I thought you were joking at first,
but then found them on Wikipedia. They said they grow in
northern clims.

How do you think they would do in Northern Nevada: freezing
winters (20 to 30F), hot summers (90-100F), and very low
humidity ( 10%), and one particular back thumb wannabe
Gardener?

And do the bugs leave them alone?


I know they grow down south, I live in Texas, heat zone 8b, dewberries
are everywhere. Lived in Maryland and Rhode Island, never saw a dewberry
in those. Visits to the upper tier of US didn't allow enough time to
look for them. If you like blackberries, you will love dewberries. Do a
Google search for dewberries, some plant stores have domesticated them
and have them available. Dewberries in our are are the first wild
berries to bear, usually in April/May followed by blackberries. Dewberry
cobblers, jellies, and jams are to die for.

Never found that many bugs on them, birds get the berries when they can
and, therefore, snakes hid in the berries to get the birds. Can scare
you bad enough to need to change your drawers. We always carry "snake"
sticks, usually an old broom stick, to pick up the vines and check for
boogers in the bushes. Small critters like the berries too, from mice up
to raccoons. Texas doesn't mow roadsides until after berry season so
that people can pick berries along the roadside. Not unusual to see
several cars parked where the berries are good.

I don't think they would do well in Northern Nevada at all but I could
be wrong, never been there that I remember. As a young sailor in the
flying Navy I traveled all over the US and lots of other places but
don't remember a Naval Air Station in that part of Nevada. What the
heck? Plant some in an area sheltered from the north wind and see what
happens. You could be the dewberry king of your area.

On 10/31/2015 04:29 PM, George Shirley wrote:
On 10/31/2015 4:06 PM, T wrote:
On 10/31/2015 08:40 AM, George Shirley wrote:

dewberries

Made me look that one up. I thought you were joking at first,
but then found them on Wikipedia. They said they grow in
northern clims.

How do you think they would do in Northern Nevada: freezing
winters (20 to 30F), hot summers (90-100F), and very low
humidity ( 10%), and one particular back thumb wannabe
Gardener?

And do the bugs leave them alone?


I know they grow down south, I live in Texas, heat zone 8b, dewberries
are everywhere. Lived in Maryland and Rhode Island, never saw a dewberry
in those. Visits to the upper tier of US didn't allow enough time to
look for them. If you like blackberries, you will love dewberries. Do a
Google search for dewberries, some plant stores have domesticated them
and have them available. Dewberries in our are are the first wild
berries to bear, usually in April/May followed by blackberries. Dewberry
cobblers, jellies, and jams are to die for.

Never found that many bugs on them, birds get the berries when they can
and, therefore, snakes hid in the berries to get the birds. Can scare
you bad enough to need to change your drawers. We always carry "snake"
sticks, usually an old broom stick, to pick up the vines and check for
boogers in the bushes. Small critters like the berries too, from mice up
to raccoons. Texas doesn't mow roadsides until after berry season so
that people can pick berries along the roadside. Not unusual to see
several cars parked where the berries are good.

I don't think they would do well in Northern Nevada at all but I could
be wrong, never been there that I remember. As a young sailor in the
flying Navy I traveled all over the US and lots of other places but
don't remember a Naval Air Station in that part of Nevada. What the
heck? Plant some in an area sheltered from the north wind and see what
happens. You could be the dewberry king of your area.

I am going to look into it! Thank you!

Fallon (home of Fallon Navel Air Stations) grows world class
melons. I can't grow one for my life. They are about 1000
feet lower in elevation though.

Davej wrote:
....
I gave up on strawberries for years because they quickly turn
into weed patches. Now I am hopeful that I may be able to grow
a few of them in large pots. I'm not sure how well that will
work but I'm going to give it a try.

depends upon the garden location, but i've yet
to see any garden that didn't need some weeding.
the expansion patch is surrounded by crushed
rinsed limestone so it doesn't get that many weeds
in it.

in planters they'll need fairly regular watering
during dry spells, especially during flowering and
fruiting.

after a few years a strawberry patch should be
replanted/renovated anyways.

some folks use weed barrier fabric or black
plastic to keep the weeds down, but i've not done
that here as i'm letting most of my patches wander
around as gardens go through planting rotations.


songbird

On Sunday, November 1, 2015 at 9:25:17 AM UTC-6, songbird wrote:
Davej wrote:
...
I gave up on strawberries for years because they quickly turn
into weed patches. Now I am hopeful that I may be able to grow
a few of them in large pots. I'm not sure how well that will
work but I'm going to give it a try.

depends upon the garden location, but i've yet
to see any garden that didn't need some weeding.
the expansion patch is surrounded by crushed
rinsed limestone so it doesn't get that many weeds
in it.

in planters they'll need fairly regular watering
during dry spells, especially during flowering and
fruiting.

after a few years a strawberry patch should be
replanted/renovated anyways.

some folks use weed barrier fabric or black
plastic to keep the weeds down, but i've not done
that here as i'm letting most of my patches wander
around as gardens go through planting rotations.


songbird

Here the grass gets out of control easily, but in pots of
very loose, rich soil I could keep the plants weeded and
route the strawberry runners to new pots. I would probably
need to set the pots into pans of water. Also I need to
find something to scare the deer away. They are becoming
a serious problem even close to the house.

On Saturday, October 31, 2015 at 10:40:54 AM UTC-5, George Shirley wrote:

I don't particularly like strawberries but the Missus
likes them. I like blackberries, dewberries, etc. much
better.


How does the taste of a dewberry differ from a blackberry?

On 11/4/2015 9:04 PM, Davej wrote:
On Saturday, October 31, 2015 at 10:40:54 AM UTC-5, George Shirley wrote:

I don't particularly like strawberries but the Missus
likes them. I like blackberries, dewberries, etc. much
better.


How does the taste of a dewberry differ from a blackberry?

Has a lighter, brighter flavor to it in my opinion. In addition they are
the first wild berries to bloom and bear in the spring. Used to pick
wild huckle berries in the woods on my folks property when I was a small
boy (many, many moons ago). Haven't seen any since then in the wild.
Probably somewhere deep in the woods of SE Texas there are still some.

We harvested every wild berry or fruit we found back then. Persimmons,
wild grapes, muscadines, you name it. That's when I learned to preserve
the goodies in jars, still do that, have at least ten cases of fruit
jars, mostly empty now but when spring comes again we will be picking
the wild berries and turning them into jams, jellies, pie fillings, some
frozen for cobblers. We even ran upon pears and plums in the woods where
an old homestead had once stood. This is a great website for home food
preserving: http://nchfp.uga.edu/