Tag: strawberries

9/1/23 Garden Update

Wolsey2 Comments

I had a small surgery on the 24th of August, so I haven’t been as up and around as usual. However, my garden keeps on going.

Here’s some update thoughts on where we are at with it.

Glacier Bush Tomatoes from Botanical Interests.

The tomatoes have gone wild. Like I have more tomatoes than I can handle for two of us, especially since my wife has GERD. So it’s really like one of us, and occasional she has a bite. I got these Glacier Bush Tomato seeds from Botanical Interests, and they are a 55 day semi-determinate. They grew strong, fast, and blew up in my 8b area.

I definitely will be using some of these for next year, but less of them.

My cucumbers? Not so much. I just never got them off and running? I got a few cucumbers, but nothing to really brag about. I made a few refrigerator pickle jars, but it just was never enough to fully can them. I only got 2 or 3 at a time.

I got the Homemade Pickles Cucumber Seeds from Botanical Interests. I just don’t know if I know what to do with them much? The ones I did get, were amazing. Like I made some cucumber and tomato and feta salad with rice vinegar and olive oil and I could eat that for days.

I might have to figure it out this cucumber situation for next year. Some of my plants never really took off at all and I don’t know why.

Strawberry plants.

My strawberries also went crazy. I need to research how to manage them because they went wild. My plans for them is to transplant them into the front yard into another blue raised bed. I have the bed, but I have not put it together because my health was not super great that last couple weeks.

I am wondering if I can combine one of these raised blue beds with a raised bed situation and have the strawberries cascade down from above into the bed below? It would look cool, and remove an entire grassy area. I hate lawn grass.

Beets.

I got a misc beet mix from Botanical Interests, and planted that recently. I love beets, and I plan to make pickled refrigerator beets and some borscht with them. I should have enough for roasted veggies as well.

I’ve never grown beets, so I am just watching and waiting.

In all, for my first year here? This garden has done so damn well. I have not really ever had this kind of space and I am shocked at how easy it was, once I got the beds and green house set up.

The only downside, is I have had a squirrel incursion into my garden cage. I am not sure how they are getting in, but I plan to really go over the area once I am done for the season and patch up any holes in my perimeter.

Gardens make breakfast better

Wolsey2 Comments

I never thought my strawberries would make it, and about half of them decided to grow like mad, and the other half produced berries. Not enough for jam, but enough for strawberries for my breakfast.

Breakfast of champions. Garden strawberries and yogurt, and hot cocoa. I know it’s like 90F every day, but I still have to start the day with hot cocoa.

The strawberries I got from Scenic Hills Farms on Etsy. They are called Eversweet. They are definitely sweet, and red all the way through. Very worth it.

Garden mini update:

I may have misjudged my ability to preserve and can, and work with so many tomatoes. My Ball book has crushed tomatoes that I can make per jar so I will probably can a jar at a time until the majority come up.

The problem is I am getting more than I can use at once, but not enough I can process into canning jars. I need 2 and 2/3 pounds per jar. I have close to 2 pounds sitting on my counter until tonight or tomorrow morning. I would rather do it today as I have today off, but I may have to can it up tomorrow for just one jar before or after work. Which, with my nature being inherently lazy, seems like a lot in one day.

The cucumbers are kind of doing the same thing. I am getting two or three at a shot, often enough I have to pull them or risk my plant giving up on me and dying, but not enough to can. I might have to make refrigerator pickles out of a bunch of them unless or until a huge batch comes up.

I am working it out, but there are definitely logistic issues about planning to can and preserve these that I never considered. Gardener Scott, on his Youtube channel, has a freeze dryer, and now I can see the appeal. You can do a small bit at a time once you own the machine. That’s not even close to being in my budget though. Nor do I have a powered shed to plug it into.

As for my latest crop I planted, the beets? They are already starting to come up. I just have to keep everything watered during this 90F+ week.

Watering has been a bit of a challenge with the overwhelming record heat. We don’t normally do this kind of hot extended sunshine here in the Pacific Northwest, so I am glad I put in the irrigation drip lines. I would not be happy standing out in it, watering for hours, with the sun on my head. Good job past me!

For a first year garden, these are all great problems to have. It’s already making me consider next year and how I want to handle that. So far, so good though.