New Strawberry Beds

I try to keep three beds of strawberries in rotation and moving through the garden.  Bed one contains the newly transplanted plants.  Bed two holds one year old plants, and the third bed, two year old plants.  New plants yield little, but the one and two year old plants yield well.  Fall transplanting might make for better yields, but I prefer to transplant in spring when my clayey beds are very wet.  The strawberries are less susceptible to stress and need very little additional care once transplanted.

Strawberry production decreases noticeably in plants older than two years.   The older beds are also difficult to keep weeded, so it’s been easiest for me to just to rip out the oldest bed, save some new plants for transplanting and compost all the weeds and old plants.

Last year I never got around to starting a new bed.  I had ripped out an older bed with the intent of transplanting, but just never finished the job.   So I came into this spring with a two year old bed and a three year old bed.  I prepped two new beds to get back into the rotation I want.  I’ll be out of kilter for a year, but this transplanting went smoothly, and I should be on track going forward.

Old Strawberry Beds

The three year old bed the I’ve been tearing up is on the right and a two year old bed to the left.  Strawberries are constantly putting out runners so there is never a shortage of new material to work with.  The paths, filled in with runners, are a great source of babies for transplanting.

A Broadfork Lifts Out Plants Easily

Strawberries are tough.  You can walk on them, weed them aggressively, and pretty much beat them up without them dying or even showing much stress.  They do need a lot of water to do their best however,  especially when they are setting fruit.  I use my broadfork to lift out and loosen large sections of berries and weeds together.  Then  I use my CobraHead Weeder to separate the plants.

New and Old Strawberry Plants

It’s very easy to decide which plant to keep and which to toss out.  Old plants  have a woody root structure.  New plants produced by runners will have only root and no sign of a woody core.  If in doubt, I just toss that plant, as I have so many new ones to work with.

Transplanting is merely a matter of pushing the young plants into their new home and watering them in.  They suffer very little transplant shock.  The picture at the top of the post shows the new beds with the plants watered in.   In past years I’ve spaced new plants about 18 inches apart and let runners fill in the gaps, but being behind this year, I’ve loaded up the beds with new plants, spacing them about six inches apart.  I’ve worked in a lot of compost and I’ll  feed them more as the year progresses, so I think we’ll have a great crop next year.

Happy Transplanted Strawberries

This picture, taken one day after transplanting and after a soaking rain, shows how quickly the strawberries have rebounded.  Strawberries are easy to grow because they reproduce so aggressively and don’t need much care.  Once started, you never have to buy new plants.  And if you didn’t already know this, the strawberries you grow at home taste way better than those sold in grocery stores.

CobraHead vs. Bluegrass

Dan Keil is the President of the Stephen Decatur Rose Society in Decatur, Illinois.   He has let us know several times that he really likes the Cobrahead Weeder and Cultivator for weeding and maintaining his 460 roses.

I’m not a rosarian, but I’ve learned that keeping grass from taking over is a major issue.  That’s not much different than for just about anything that’s cultivated, but grasses really mess up roses and Dan does not want to use chemicals, mainly because the roses don’t like them.

Dan sent over these pictures.  Here are some of his comments:

“Hi Noel,  I thought I would send you some pictures of how I use my CobraHead tool. I use it to remove the bluegrass from my rose beds, it gets all the underground runners and tillers. I have to be careful that I don’t pull the rose out of the ground. The CobraHead is the best weeding tool I’ve ever had.  You’re free to use these photos any way you want!

Bluegrass is extremely hard to control. Using Roundup will damage the plants. There are some grass herbicides, but they are expensive. I’d be afraid they would hurt the plants.

My garden is mainly to produce show roses. So that is why I use the CobraHead Tool. I just dig in on any edge  and start ripping it out of the ground. I use the small hand model because my back is real bad and it’s hard to get up and down. Also I can see what’s going on with the minis and minifloras.

Grass in Baldo Villegas Rose

Baldo Villegas Rose After CobraHead

I used to use a gasket scraper to work close to the plants until I got my CobraHead. You can see the before and after picture of that rose. The rose roots run deeper than the bluegrass so I don’t have to worry about pulling the rose out of the ground.  I get bluegrass coming into my rose garden and the CobraHead tool takes it out real easy. It’s great to get out thick patches of crabgrass too!  It is good to loosen hard soil. I use it to work in fertilizer.  I also use it to grub out the Ash seedlings. It works great.

Garden Edge Before

Garden Edge After

My back is so bad that I have to sit and work that way. The hand tool works great. Weeds don’t stand a chance. It is the only weed removal tool I use now.  I won’t trade my CobraHead Tool for anything! I’m a horticulturist and I’ve used a lot of tools to remove weeds in the past 35 years. The Cobra Head Tool is the best tool I’ve ever used!

I am a Master Gardner with the Cooperative Extension Service/ University Of Illinois, I am also a Master Rosarian thru the American Rose Society. I am the President of the Stephen Decatur Rose Society, and the Illinois-Indiana District Consulting Rosarian Chairman.  I grow 460 roses.”

All we can say is, thank you, Dan!!

Lots of Compost

Compost solves everything!  Well, not quite, but one can garden in compost alone and you cannot have too much.  This year I’m way ahead.  I’ve got a pile of ready to apply material (the smaller pile in the picture).  And even though it’s still too wet in the garden beds to do much work, I took advantage of two unexpected warm and dry days to turn the pile I had created throughout last year.

Last Year’s Compost Pile

This is what I started with.  The picture was taken in December.  The pile is all the plant residue left from the harvests, all the weeds I harvested,  plus the contents of a 55 gallon drum of household compost we collect.  I talk about using the barrels to save household compost here and here.

I took last year’s pile and moved it over about 10 feet.  Turning the pile will speed up the decomposition and accelerate the cooking process that breaks down plant material into compost.

Turning the pile could be very difficult and time consuming.  The layers of spent plants, twigs, stalks and stems form a matted layer that is woven together and very hard to separate.  Trying to scoop it off and separate it with a fork or shovel approaches futility.

Manure Fork, Spear Head Spade, 5-Tine Cultivator

That’s where the old five-tine cultivator again shows itself to be a multi-dimensional tool that should still be made.  I used that tool to rip apart the matted mess.  Then forking the compost to the new pile becomes quite easy.  The third tool I use is a shovel with a novel design that I was introduced to two years ago at the Philadelphia Flower Show.  It’s sold under the trade name Spear Head Spade.  Its small sharp and strong head makes it ideal for slicing through hard soil and plant material.  It’s very easy to use to cut compacted soil and cut into and through plant material.  So with these three tools, a manure fork, an old fine-tined cultivator, and a Spear Head spade, I turned over this very large pile of compost in just a few hours.

I also used the old five-tined tool to loosen and level the soil where last year’s pile resided.  I laid down some stalks from the semi-wild patch of Jerusalem artichokes I have growing in the area.  That’s where I’ll build this year’s compost pile to keep the process going.  Compost is extremely easy to make.  It’s a naturally occurring process and good gardeners covet it.  I’m lucky I have a large area and ample inputs to have almost all the compost I could want.

Braised Salmon with Mushrooms and Rice with Leeks

Here’s a quick salmon meal using leeks and corn frozen from last year’s harvest.  It’s a great way to use up chopped and frozen leeks, but of course fresh leeks will work just as well.

Start the rice first and it will be cooked and ready to go by the time everything else is done.  Start warming the corn on low heat if it’s frozen, then prepare the salmon.

Rice with Leeks

1 cup brown rice (I used Lotus brand Volcano Rice)

1 cup chopped leeks

2 cups veggie broth

Put rice, leeks, and veggie broth in a 2 quart sauce pan.  Bring to a boil then turn down heat and simmer covered for 30-40 minutes until liquid is absorbed.  Note that the whole grain volcano rice takes only 30 minutes to cook.

Braised Salmon with Mushrooms

2   4 oz frozen salmon filets (or one per person)

½ cup sliced portabella mushrooms (or your favorite mushrooms)

½ cup sliced onions

2 cloves minced garlic

2 T. Olive Oil

2 T. white wine

½ to 1 T. Tamari

¼ cup water

Sauté onions and mushrooms for about 5 minutes on medium low, add the garlic for the last 30 seconds.  Remove all from pan and set aside.  Turn up the heat to medium.  Add a little more olive oil if the pan needs it.  Add frozen salmon filets, cover pan and sauté for 6 minutes.  Remove cover, turn the filets over and add the mushroom onion mixture back to the pan.  Mix white wine, tamari and water and pour into the pan.  Cover and simmer for another 5 minutes.  Fish should be cooked all the way through.  If your salmon is not frozen adjust your cooking time down.

Corn (frozen garden corn)

Thaw, heat and serve with butter.

Serve with a cilantro or parsley garnish.  It’s quick, easy, tasty, and substantial.

Were I growing vegetables for money, I’d make sure I got my seeds started on a very specific schedule.  But as a casual home gardener, I don’t have to worry much about getting everything exactly right.  I’m just getting most of my seeds started now, and by the rules, some are a little late.  That doesn’t bother me a lot.  I’ve learned that you have a lot of latitude in growing your own food, and most of the “rules” are only guidelines, not commandments.

I should have had my peppers, brassicas. celery, and a lot of other crops started around March 15th.  But I know from past experience that I can still have excellent output starting these crops as late as May 1st, and I probably could even cheat on that date.

I’ve been using 5 ounce Dixie cups as my favorite seed starting container for quite a few years.  I like them because they are large enough to handle most any seed and they are biodegradable.  I just toss them onto the compost pile after I’ve emptied them out.  In the last couple years I’ve also switched from concocting my own potting soils to just using commercially prepared mixes.  It’s so much easier and the results for me have been so much better than what I was getting with my home made formulas.  And by results, I mean healthy and heavy root sets.

Seeds in Cups

The Dixie cups are not very stable so to keep them from tipping over I put them into a flat lined with newspapers.  The picture here shows seeded cups on trays ready to be moved to flats.  From here they will go to the basement for some bottom heat and grow lights.  I talk more about the cups in flats here.

The big advantage of starting your own seeds is cost.  You can purchase a hundred seeds for what one plant would cost from a garden center or farm market.  But variety is a close second to cost.  I’m starting 27 different tomatoes, most of them heirlooms that would not be available to me otherwise.  And while I save a lot of seeds, I buy most of my seed from the small seed companies that are working hard to save the unusual, the historical, and the usually better tasting varieties than what mega-agriculture is trying to force on us.  The little seed companies are really the people that make gardening the most interesting for me.

Tripod Ladder

I’ve wanted an orchard ladder for a long time and I finally got one.  They are also called fruit picking ladders or tripod ladders, but there are other tripod ladders out there that are not designed specifically as orchard ladders.  The better orchard ladders are lightweight aircraft aluminum and the good manufacturers are just about all on the west coast.  That makes it a problem if you are not located near a major fruit growing industry.  These ladders are not available everywhere, and the shipping costs for a single ladder can be more than the cost of the ladder itself.

The ladder in the picture is made by a company called Tallman Ladders  out of Hood River, Oregon.  My internet searching had already convinced me Tallman was among the best ladders available, and when they responded to my quote request by telling me they had a dealer in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, I was pretty sure it was going to be a Tallman Ladder for me.  I contacted the local dealer, whose family business is a cherry orchard, the ladders are a sideline.  He quoted me a price that was almost $150 less than if I had a single ladder shipped from the west coast.  The next day, I drove to the dealer, 16 miles away, and returned home with my new 10′ tripod ladder.

I got to try the ladder out Saturday afternoon and Sunday.  I trimmed my two dwarf pear trees and started to work on my four dwarf apples.  My only regret is that I did not buy one of these ladders 20 years ago.  The footing with these is rock solid.  There is no wobble at all, and the three point structure with a single pole third leg allows the user to get the ladder much closer to the work than with a standard four-point ladder.   It makes the work of pruning, and I’m sure spraying, other tree maintenance and harvesting, easier, faster, and safer.

This ladder should last me the rest of my gardening career and I’m looking forward to spending much more time working on my fruit trees than I have in the past.

Ajvar with cheese spread

I first tried canned, or shall I say jarred, ajvar many years ago at a potluck.  Since then our friend Michael Ball has developed his own recipe and it is his potluck specialty.

This Turkish dish has many versions and can also include roasted eggplant.  Served with a Neufchâtel/Feta cheese spread on a sourdough baguette it makes a wonderful appetizer or midday snack.

Here is my version:

Ajvar

4 red sweet bell peppers (I have also used ripe red Anaheims for a spicier version)

Broil the peppers in the oven or roast on the grill, turning them frequently.  They should be blackened or blistered all over without burning all the way through the flesh.  This should take about 10-15 minutes.  Remove from heat and cover with foil or slide tray into a brown paper bag to steam for 15 minutes.  Peel off the skins and remove seeds.  Dice the peppers.  (If I have enough ripe peppers from our fall garden I roast, peel, dice and freeze a cup or so in baggies.  Then thaw and make the spread.)

Mix the peppers, about 1 cup or more, with:

3-4 T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1-2 T. Balsamic Vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

Marinate for an hour or two.

Neufchâtel/Feta Cheese Spread

4 oz Neufchâtel

2-4 oz feta

Bring cheeses to room temperature and mash together.

Spread cheese mixture on baguette slices or whole grain crackers (as shown), top with marinated peppers and enjoy!

Note:  All the amounts of the ingredients are subjective.  Please adjust quantities to your taste.

I have a leaf cutting ant nest somewhere on my property, probably underneath my front porch.  I can’t determine the exact location of the nest because their tunnels can extend a hundred feet or more.  I’ve written about the ants before here, and have mostly learned to live with them.  They remain dormant most of the time, but make appearances several times a year.   Each time that they emerge they choose one type of plant to eat, ignoring the other vegetation.  This time it was peas.

Peas plants damaged by leaf cutting ants.

Because the ants don’t actually eat the leaves, but instead use them to grow fungus, most insect controls don’t work on them.  For example, both Noel and I have had excellent results spraying neem oil on our plants to control leaf eating insects.  But for the neem to be effective, the insects must ingest it.  This doesn’t happen with the ants.

Luckily this time I noticed the ant outbreak before they had destroyed all of the peas.  I found that they had only tunneled into the pea bed in one location.  I poured orange oil into the hole.  I returned to the bed two days later and did not see any further damage.  I did, however, find about a dozen ants wandering around the bed still carrying now shriveled pieces of leaf.  Apparently I had severed their only connection with the mother colony.

Leaf cutting ant tunnel entrance.

I won one round in my struggle with the ants.  But I know that they will be back.  And from past experience, I also know that they usually get what they want.

While cleaning out the bed, I worked around a lemon balm plant.

I’m incorporating some perennial herbs into my raised vegetable beds. This lemon balm needs to be cut back to encourage fresh new growth.

Cutting the lemon balm back to about four inches.

Once I got the bed cleaned out, I added a couple of buckets of compost and created furrows for the peas.

Sowing the pea seeds about two inches apart. This year I’m trying a variety called Amish Snap available from Seed Savers Exchange.

I use the CobraHead Long Handle to make the furrow for the pea seeds and also to pull the soil over the seeds and then firmly tamp the soil above the seeds.

I wanted to take advantage of the space in the center of the bed, so I transplanted the Chinese Kale that I had started indoors a few weeks ago.  Also known as Kailaan, I’m growing a variety available from Botanical Interests.

The Amish Snap Peas are planted on the outside of the trellis and the Chinese Kale on the inside. Backwards? Yes. But the trellis structure was already in place.

The next project: prepare a space for Collard Greens and Mustard Greens.  The seedlings are almost ready to transplant.

These collard seedlings will be transplanted into the garden soon.

Braised Carrots

We still have about 4 or 5 pounds of garden carrots in the refrigerator.  Noel started a late crop the end of August and harvested what was left of them mid December.  We scrubbed  and bagged them in clear plastic bags and found a spot in the refrigerator (barely).  We munch on a few raw ones just about every day – they’re so sweet and tasty.

The other day I was in the mood for roasted carrots but since my oven was zapped in the last ice storm (we’re waiting for a new part) I thought I’d try braising them on top of the stove.  They turned out quite well with a taste very similar to roasting.

Braised Carrot Recipe

1 dozen medium size scrubbed and unpeeled carrots (mine were about 5-6 inches long)

2 T. Olive Oil

¾ cup veggie broth

1 T. fresh or 1 tsp. dried sage leaves

Preheat a 10” cast iron frying pan to medium high.  Add the olive oil, then carrots and brown for 5 minutes – stirring or turning so all sides are seared.  Add the broth and sage, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until fork tender.   Remove the cover, turn up the heat slightly and cook until the liquid evaporates.  At this point the carrots and sage will brown and caramelize.  You may need to turn the heat back down so they don’t burn.  Remove from pan and serve.  I could have eaten them all but I shared them with the grower!