Last year about this time I began a series of posts saying that using
standard concrete block 16"x8"x8' with their 2 holes are great for
garden plants in that they protect the plant, reduce weeds and grass, so
much easier to plant without ever using a rototiller, easy to mow,
easier to water and always easy to locate.

One problem I did encounter last year was that I did not make the
concrete block rows continuous where no gaps between one block and the
next on down a line. This year I make them continuous for it is easier
to mow and just run the mower along the side of the block and that no
grass or weeds grow in between the gaps.
So this year I made them all contiguous rows.

But I want to try this method out especially this year on strawberries.
For the last 3 years I have had to constantly weed out the strawberry
patches but the brome and quack grasses have heavily infested the
patches.

So what I want to do is to make rows of concrete block and transplant a
single strawberry in each hole. Anxious because I am curious as to
whether the strawberry will thrive since it must grow higher than normal
and that it cannot easily send out lateral sister plant runners. If they
thrive in concrete blocks then they will be a breeze to weed because
weeds and grasses do not easily grow
in those holes because of the enormous shade and thus I will have
conquered the weeding of strawberries. But I do not know if the runners
will make it.

So this is a special year to experiment with strawberries via concrete
block method. This method makes gardening 100 times easier because the
block act as if it was a pot itself.

I can plant a row of tomatoes in concrete blocks of 72 plants in less
than 2 hours whereas the old method of tilling etc etc took 4 hours.

There is one drawback to concrete block method and that some ants can
colonize around a block. So what I have done to address this problem is
that I lay the thinnest edge of the block on the ground, whereas the
thicker edge attracts ants.
Ants are a huge problem for gardens.

Another problem is that robins often uproot potted plants. One summer I
was planting a lot of alpine strawberries I had started in peatmoss
plugs and I spent a morning planting them and when I returned in the
afternoon, robins had uprooted nearly the entire bed. But in concrete
block gardening, robins do not poke their heads down into those holes,
or at least I have never seen them.

So this year I hope to solve the yearly strawberry weeding tantrums. I
would guess the strawberries will thrive in those holes by just growing
a longer stems
and if any grasses manage to come it is so much easier to control them.
But I am uncertain if the runners will thrive. Perhaps they will thrive
and at the end of the summer I can go down the row of block, snip the
runners and plant them into a new row of block.

I am hopeful that the concrete block method will be the ultimate best
method of growing strawberries.

By the way, since I use the block to build buildings, that whenever I
need more block for buildings I just take them from the field, wash them
and put them into the building. So I keep concrete block extras serving
either as gardening or when need be, for building a new building.

Archimedes Plutonium
whole entire Universe is just one big atom where dots
of the electron-dot-cloud are galaxies
www.archimedesplutonium.com
www.iw.net/~a_plutonium

Well, today I transplanted about 50 strawberries in concrete block
16"x8"x8". I am hoping that they thrive under those conditions because
strawberries are so hard to maintain from weeds and grasses. Because if
they can thrive in those block holes it is easy to weed them and to run the
mower. In other words, strawberries pose a high priority of being solved by
the Concrete Block method.

I am going to guess that they will thrive by just shooting their leaves up
higher to get the full sunlight. Once they do that, I can easily weed out
any grasses or weeds and mow along the line of block. I am further hoping
that the strawberry runners will try to reach ground and then I can easily
snip them off and plant them into a new block somewhere else.

This method may have solved the problem of growing strawberries and also it
is easy to walk down a row of block containing strawberries than in a
field.

I shall report this summer how my strawberry experiment is going on.

Archimedes Plutonium
whole entire Universe is just one big atom where dots
of the electron-dot-cloud are galaxies
www.archimedesplutonium.com
www.iw.net/~a_plutonium

Bloody hell unc I had know Idiot you were so well versed.

Please forgive me for not reading any of you shjidt.


--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

Tue, 20 Apr 2004 02:57:07 -0500 Archimedes Plutonium wrote:

Well, today I transplanted about 50 strawberries in concrete block
16"x8"x8". I am hoping that they thrive under those conditions because
strawberries are so hard to maintain from weeds and grasses. Because if
they can thrive in those block holes it is easy to weed them and to run the
mower. In other words, strawberries pose a high priority of being solved by
the Concrete Block method.

I am going to guess that they will thrive by just shooting their leaves up
higher to get the full sunlight. Once they do that, I can easily weed out
any grasses or weeds and mow along the line of block. I am further hoping
that the strawberry runners will try to reach ground and then I can easily
snip them off and plant them into a new block somewhere else.

This method may have solved the problem of growing strawberries and also it
is easy to walk down a row of block containing strawberries than in a
field.

I shall report this summer how my strawberry experiment is going on.

In the last 3 days we have had nice rainy weather and I already can see that
the strawberries will prosper inside the concrete block for I have three that
have leaves coming up out of the holes and they have blossoms. I suspect they
will
shoot runners later this year and dangling from the top of the block which
will be easy for me to clip and transplant inside a new block hole.

So I think I have the strawberries put to the world's finest method of growing
via the concrete block in that I know where each plant is located. I easily
weed them, water them, fertilize them and transplant them without ever
stepping on them or mowing them down. The concrete block also inhibit the
growth of weeds and grasses because the holes do not provide enough sunlight
especially when the strawberry leaves pop out of the hole.

So concrete block strawberry agriculture is the finest means of growing
organic strawberries.

What I have to establish now is whether my alpine strawberries can reach the
top of the holes. Regular strawberries just make elongated leaves to reach the
top of the holes but can alpine strawberries do the same?

And the block are so great for watering because they funnel the water onto the
roots of the plant.

Archimedes Plutonium
whole entire Universe is just one big atom where dots
of the electron-dot-cloud are galaxies
www.archimedesplutonium.com
www.iw.net/~a_plutonium