Savoring Strawberries

Today my DH brought in twelve pounds of beautiful, ripe June bearing strawberries from our patch on the east end of the garden. Our grandsons are here today, so we quickly dispatched about 10 lbs in hungry tummies! No, not really. The 10-year old said that was the best breakfast he ever had…angel food cake and strawberries.

Gardening Tip:  To save your berries from hungry birds, place netting over the plants.

The bounty from this morning's harvest--3 pails of strawberries, lettuce, and first cabbage.

In the poll on why you garden many of you voted for the enjoyment. Gardeners receive many blessings from gardening…the wonder of a growing plant, the fun of digging in the dirt, the nurturing, and finally the product. But I think sharing your fruit or vegetable with friends and neighbors is a worthwhile reward too. Seeing our grandsons’ faces light up with that first, delightful bite of strawberries is worth all the labor in the garden.

Potato Plants are Taking Off in the Garden

I was amazed when my DH showed me the difference between the potato plants he still had in a pack and the potatoes in the garden. Just look at this!




Compare the size of the potato plants in the garden and those in the pack!

Both of these plants were started from seed on April 24. The seedlings were planted in the garden  on May 22. Just look at what that great soil and space did to grow these potato plants to this size. This is an excellent lesson on the importance of your plants having room to grow, isn't it?

This also demonstrates how garden soil really makes a top performing plant. This is one of my pet peeves..gardeners who plant beautiful plants taking care to water and weed, but do not worry about what kind of soil is available for the roots. Adding amendments to your soil with manure and compost can make such a difference in your gardening success.

Our potato patch this year has four varieties....good ole Red Pontiac, Austrian fingerlings (a new one for us), Yukon Gold, and German Butter. I love the golden potatoes because when you prepare it for dinner,  it looks like you have a LOT of butter on the potato when you really don't. Mmm..so good.

Can't wait to dig those taters!

 

Tip Sheets for Vegetable Gardens

The Michigan Cooperative Extension Service offers all kinds of information for the home gardener. Click on the MSU website for tip sheets from getting started in gardening to help with growing veggies from asparagus to zucchini. Michigan gardens are in zones 4 and 5, so anyone in those zones could enjoy this excellent information.

Each state has their own extension service. Click on the website of the USDA to find your local extension office.

Starting Seeds? Here's a Unique Idea...

Little miracles inside these seeds.

It's that time again. Start those seeds for your garden.

My fellow blogging friend, Celia Leaman, and avid gardener shares her unique idea for starting her seeds-Wishing to start some seeds, and lacking a dedicated bottom heater, I had the brilliant idea of sowing the seeds in trays, placing them in a shallow box lid and encasing the whole thing in a large polythene bag which I slid into one side of our large king bed. My husband being away, I kept them there for a day or two, the heater turned on low. I slept in the other side! So warm and cosy, those seeds germinated in no time!

Celia's idea for sprouting seeds is very creative. Check out this previous post on how my DH sprouted seeds too.

Do you have a tip on germinating your seeds? Please let us know your secret...

Celia and I post blogs at Women Etcetera and you can too. It is a group dedicated to women over 50. The blogs are inspirational, poignant, funny, thoughtful, and sometimes controversial. Come join us. Learn more about this wonderful group of women whose "diverse pasts have brought us to this point--our mutual desires, wisdom to share, and hope for the future bring us together." Check out this site. You may want to sign up to join a local group in your area or to blog along with us.

Vegetable Garden with Four Season Planning

I know you are dreaming and planning your garden whether just in your head, on paper, or on the computer with the Plan Garden site. (click on the photo of the woman gardener to learn more about Plangarden.)

A garden needs to be organized. Here are a few things to remember during your planning stage.

1. Determine the size and location, preferably with 6-8 hours of sun a day with water nearby for watering the plants. The Plangarden helps you determine how much space you have for each vegetable crop. It is so easy to buy too many seeds or plants for the space you have available. Planning helps you in this category.

2. Decide which way to plant the rows in your garden.

3. Remember to save room for a path or paths through the garden in order to water, fertilize, weed, etc.

4. Select areas for planting for the seasons. It is best to plant those veggies you will harvest in spring in a group. For example, plant lettuce, peas, green onions, radishes together for spring harvesting. In another section plant beans, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, squash, and tomatoes for summer harvest, and broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, spinach, lettuce or cool weather crops for fall gathering.

5. To efficiently use the garden area, it is possible to "double-crop" the section. When the spring plants are depleted, re-plant the section with another group of plants for late summer or fall harvest time. See how grouping the seasonal plants together allows this extra perk?

6. Another advantage of planting with the season of harvest in mind helps you clear out a section to re-plant or to clean up for the winter. So instead of planting the cole crops like cabbage and broccoli which like the cold weather on the opposite ends of the garden, plant them with the fall harvest crops like pumpkins and winter squash.

7. You may live in an area where it is possible to keep root crops such as parsnips and turnips in the ground longer for a winter crop. Be sure to keep these vegetables planted in the same area so you can clean up and prepare the rest of the garden for winter.

Think first about the harvest times for your vegetables and group them accordingly in your garden. With some pre-planning, you can eat fresh all year.

It's the end of the season for vegetable gardening and about time to button up the garden until spring. We still have some green tomatoes which we will pick, then wrap in newspapers to ripen. Broccoli and cabbage and lettuce will be good because they can stand the frost.

I wrote an article on End of Season Vegetable Gardening Tips for Life 123. I have no idea why it is formatted with capital letters starting each word...Not my formatting. Click here to read it. I hope it helps you put your garden to bed for the year.