Rejuvenating the strawberry patch

I have neglected the strip of strawberry plants along a retaining wall in my front yard long enough. I got the plants from a neighbor several years ago when he thinned his patch. His garden produces impressive quantities of beautiful berries. I gave what plants I didn't have room for to another neighbor. Her patch flourishes, too -- enough that her children sell the berries door-to-door. And yes, I buy them! (To fill my lack.) It's a cruelly ironic circle-of-life kind of thing.

What's the deal with my strawberry patch?

Behold:

Do you even see the patch?

The plants are crowded and competing for space with grass, herbs and flowers that jumped their boundaries. The strawberries have become more of a ground cover than a strategic crop. A ground cover can be just fine, if that's what you want, but strawberries treated this way will not be very productive. Besides, who plants strawberries if not for the fruit?

My project, then, was to start fresh. The strawberries are to the left of the retaining stones. I dug up all of them in this main path. I kept a few between the stones.

I carefully set the plants into flats, watered them and moved them out of the bright sunshine and heat while I continued working. (Ha! We had a snowstorm since. Ah, you gotta love spring.) 

Then I spread composted manure and mixed that into the soil. 

My berries are the type that produce one crop in spring. The everbearing kind makes an early summer crop and another, often smaller, one in the fall.

These are guidelines for each type. When planting strawberries, keep the crown level with the surface. The crown is where the cluster of roots meet in one point. In this strawberry plant picture the sidewalk line represents the soil level. If roots are loose, (as they are here), spread them out as you plant. Dig a hole two inches deeper than the roots, make a mound in it and place the spread out roots on top. Cover the roots with dirt, taking care to keep the crown level with the surface. Too low it can rot, too high, the roots can dry out.

I clipped off any dead leaves and blossoms before transplanting. As the season goes on I will remove other blossoms. Yes, this will drive me crazy! It is so hard to delay a strawberry harvest. Yet this practice allows plants to pour energy into roots rather than fruit production. This will help the plants get stronger this season and produce even more berries next year. Argh! (Good thing I have my neighbor saleskids!)

I planted the strawberries about 15 inches apart, using the stones as a spacing guide. The ones in the triangles between the stones are the plants I left. These will be the plants I harvest this year. All my transplants align with the left side of the stones. Later in the season, when these plants make runners I will limit them to one per plant. I will guide the runners to the right side of the stones. This system will help me track the age of the plants. Typically plants thrive about three years.

Water regularly the first few weeks to keep ground evenly moist. Cultivate around the plants about once a week. Keep forming strawberries off the ground by putting straw around the plants (hey, I get it!) or making simple posts out of pieces of clothes hangers (like a shepherd's hook plant stake) to lift the berries. They are safer from snails that way. Avoid feeding the birds by installing garden netting or covering plants with cheesecloth you can find at the grocery store. 

Shoveling snow off of fruit trees

Summer

Winter!

The very thing that generally gives me a guilt-free pass from gardening -- snow -- delivered an usual chore this week: shoveling fruit tree branches.

Snow is nothing new here, but it came so fast and so wet and heavy (and so much of it!) that trees all over town strained and split with the extra weight. I don't want my little peach tree to suffer the same fate, which is why I tromped through knee-high banks to scrape snow off its branches. The tree is in my front yard, a steep slope of three terraces. In the best of weather it's like playing mountain goat to garden there. I'm sure I gave my neighbors quite the show as I climbed the hill and hoped to not lose my footing.

Ah, that's better.

Pruning tactics to maximize fruit production and sunlight to each branch also create a basin for snow. Hold your hand out, palm up, to see how. Hold your arm vertically from the elbow, with the hand bent back, as if you were a waiter holding a tray. Now curve your fingers. Your forearm is the trunk and your curled fingers the branches. When snow makes a branch bend at a notch, the risk for breakage is high.

My tree is against a retaining wall, where the upper level provides an easy reach to all the branches. (It's why we planted it there, for easier harvest.) If you attempt to remove snow from a bigger tree, be careful. Use a shovel to PUSH snow away from you, rather than pull it toward you. Obviously you don't want to get a snow shower, but you also don't want to dislodge an already weakened branch and have it fall on you. Consider that bent branches may whip upward when snow is removed; another reason to keep your distance and use a long-handled tool. Watch out for power lines.

I don't anticipate having to shovel fruit tree branches with every snowstorm, just when the weight of snow makes the boughs bow. (See what I did there?) 

Swing on tree heavy-laden with snow.

Oops! The patio furniture got left out.

What's your most unusual off-season gardening chore?

Another use for parking strip: grape vines

Here is another idea for planting edibles in the narrow piece of land between sidewalk and street: grape vines. (Click here for a post about strawberries in raised beds in the parking strip.)

These homeowners live on a corner lot and have devoted the side yard between their driveway and the neighbor's driveway to grape vines. There are three vines in the parking strip, about four feet apart. Two cedar posts with wires running between them support the grape vines. The strip runs north-south.

On the other side of the sidewalk are four rows of vines running east-west. The vines are spaced around utility equipment and provide a screen from the neighbors' vehicles and also hide trash and compost bins. (Do you even see the bins? There's a pop of green at the back.)

This is the view facing the front, right side of the house: Look for the cedar posts to orient the position of the vines, toward the middle of the photo.

The big, beautiful shade tree is on the northwest corner of the property and will not block light to the vineyard. I applaud such a great use of space!

Effective use of parking strip space: raised beds for strawberries

Many communities have an area known as a parking strip, which is a narrow piece of ground between street and sidewalk on private residential and business lots. This is also called a parkway. Sandwiched between two pieces of city property, the parking strip isn't exactly a prized canvas for landscape design. Most parking strips I've ever seen are either filled with rocks or lawn. In the case of lawn in the strip, this can be a terrible water-waster when sprinklers irrigate more of the sidewalk than grass.

This yard, in contrast, shows a great use of the narrow parking strip space with raised beds for strawberries.

The homeowner attached reflective panels to the beds on the street side for greater visibility when people park their cars. The beds are built around the water meter.

Note: some city may have restrictions on whether structures can be added to a parking strip; check with your town first if you're thinking of making garden boxes there. (How I feel about such nitty-gritty oversight is a post for another day!)

I'm always on the prowl for productive uses of the parking strip, and would love to learn what ideas you've seen or implemented. Strawberries taste better than grass, don't you agree?

Home orchards

Fruit trees can be an attractive part of a home landscape, as this carefully planned orchard shows.

The orchard space is about 16x16 feet on the west side yard of a historic home in my city's downtown. In the center is a pear tree flanked by two apple trees and two peach trees. The five trees are laid out in a circular cross design with islands of light brown bark mulch separated by black edging and light colored gravel paths. This ground design is striking all year long, perhaps even more so in winter when the trees are bare. The mulch serves an extra purpose: it covers the drip-line irrigation system. All the trees are dwarf varieties.

A bed of strawberry plants borders one side of the grid, which fits right in with the owner's orchard motivation: "Because we love fruit."

Here, the trees create a privacy screen between the street and the house.

This is the front of the beautiful home, with the orchard shown on the left. The home sits on a large lot, but its compact orchard offers inspiration for using fruit trees in residential landscapes of all sizes. These strategies are worth noting:

• Choose dwarf varieties for small spaces.

• Separate fruit trees from lawn if you can. First, their water needs are different. Second, grass will not grow well under a fruit tree's canopy. 

• Think of a tree's pollination needs. Most apple varieties require another apple tree nearby to produce fruit.

• Use landscape cloth and mulch to cut down weeds. Consider adding a design element with your choice of mulches.

Homemade ice cream basics

Making homemade ice cream is easier than ever with kitchen appliances that don't require ice or salt. It's an especially yummy way to enjoy homegrown berries and peaches.

There are many ice cream maker brands available with the premise of a bowl with cooling liquid inside an insulated wall. You freeze this ahead of time until the liquid is solid. It doesn't take much space -- so you can have this in your freezer ready at will for an ice cream craving. (Admittedly, if you don't have it frozen already that can be the hardest step to making a batch!) My maker rotates the bowl around the mixing arm to freeze the dessert in about 30 minutes.

Recipes are plentiful, but you can cobble your own fruit creations with a few guidelines. These tips are for a 2-quart maker. (Source: Cuisinart)

• Use 4 cups total of a milk/cream combination. For example 1 cup milk and 3 cups cream, or 2 cups each. Naturally a higher fat content will yield a richer and creamier dessert.

• Add 1 cup sugar (see note below)

• Add 1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract, to taste.

Use a hand mixer to combine liquid and sugar, making sure sugar is dissolved.

• Use 3 cups fruit.

This next step takes a bit of time, but the flavor impact is well worth it:

• Combine your fruit (stemmed berries, sliced peaches, etc.) with 1/2 cup sugar and 4 tablespoons lemon or lime juice. Stir and let the fruit macerate for 2 hours, which releases those tasty juices. This also makes the difference between white vanilla ice cream with raspberries floating in it, and pink ice cream flavored with the berries through and through. Strain, reserving the liquid, and mash half of the fruit. Add all to your milk/cream mixture.

• Note: Taste mixture before pouring into machine. Keep in mind that freezing can reduce the sweetness of fruit. If it tastes tart, add more sugar

That's it! What are your favorite ice cream creations?

Salvaging fruit from broken raspberry canes

I had nothing to lose when I submerged a broken raspberry cane into a bucket of water to see if the berries on it would ripen. Whether by storm or a critter passing through, the cane was broken clean through. I found it on the ground soon after its detachment; the leaves were still lush and it was just starting to form the creamy green-colored balls that normally would develop into red berries. What a bummer to lose so many, I thought. It was either off to the compost heap or to my weird idea of a bath.

I was pleasantly surprised that putting the cane in water worked! No, the cane's leaves aren't pristine, but the vase treatment apparently bought enough time for certain berries to ripen (about three days later). I say certain ones, because not all did -- mainly the larger ones. Better than nothing.

Have you had any last-ditch efforts that surprised you, too?

An Early Christmas Present

Life isn't fair. I hate this saying, but had to use it when my kids whined and complained that I got to open one of my Christmas presents BEFORE Christmas. I HAD to, it was a living thing and could die or be seriously damaged if I didn't open it. It was no consolation to the kids, and I still haven't heard the end of it. But, it was worth it, I love my cute little citrus trees!

The climate here in Utah isn't optimal for citrus trees, so I chose to get dwarf trees that I will be able to plant in a large pot. In the spring I will harden them off and let them be outside, in the fall we will bring them back into the house.

Reader Question: Strawberry Thieves

Question: I'd like some advice on maintaining a berry patch that doesn't get nibbled on in the middle of the night by rodents! It seems like those critters come along and ruin every ripe berry before I can get to it! It's maddening! Aside from covering the entire plot in netting do you do anything to protect those precious berries?


Answer: We have never had issues with rodents in our strawberry patches. Birds seem to be the main culprit in our garden. We use netting to keep the birds at bay and I wonder if this might help with strawberries.


Luckily we have a large group of readers that have probably had the same problem. If you have had rodent problems with your strawberries, what have you done to keep them away from your strawberries.

~ Michael

Berry Patch Creation

Strawberries and raspberries always seem to be one of the easiest things for us to grow in our garden. We plant them, forget about them, and get berries. Not much other work is required. It could be that our climate is great for them, but I suspect that they are just hardy plants that grow well in many places and environments. That being the case, one of the first things we planted this year were strawberries.

Most of the gardening books we use indicate that the best time to plant strawberries and raspberries is late summer or early fall. This allows you to harvest a crop the next season. If you live in a dry area like we do, planting in early spring will work well, just don't expect to get a harvest the first year. In fact, it is recommended to pinch off the flowers of your raspberries and strawberries the first year in order to let the plants focus on establishing themselves. This allows for one to harvest a better crop the next season. Both plants do well in the sun although they can survive in shaded areas. Both plants like plenty of humus and fairly acidic conditions. They are also potash hungry. When preparing their soil, add wood ashes to the ground as it will help them thrive.

Here is what our strawberry patch looked like before we started working it.

 We added straw and compost, and then we double dug the ground. 

 We purchased bare root stock. These are strawberries and raspberries that don't come in pots and their roots don't have dirt at all. This is the cheapest way to start them and we find that they grow just as well as long as you plant them immediately after purchasing them.

(bare root plant)

(Image Credit)

Here is what our patch looks like after our work. 

This will be one of many berry patches that we will have dispersed throughout our yard. It will require some patience on our part to wait a year for the fruit but trust me, it is worth the wait when you bite into your first fresh strawberry from your yard.

What have you found works well for your strawberry and raspberry patches?

~Michael~

Tree Talk

As Marisa and I anticipate getting a new bigger property we have started to plan what we want to grow. We want a lot of what we had on our smaller backyard farm. A vegetable garden, strawberries, raspberries, chickens, and medicinal herbs. We just want more variety and bigger plots of these things. We also look forward to delving into new areas of farming that we have never tried. We are excited to have bees, goats, rabbits, and fruit trees.

(image is of Maya and her best friend swinging on a dwarf tree, other dwarf trees are in the background, I believe they are Red Haven Peach Trees)

We have never had fruit trees and we are starting to do some research into what kind of trees we want to get. We have learned a lot of interesting things but we are still novices. Here are a few things that I found interesting.

Did you know that apples, pears, quinces, cherries, peaches nectarines, apricots, plums, damsons, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and the rose all belong to the same family? They are all part of the plant family Rosaceae. Don't ask me how to pronounce this. They are divided into sub groups that include those that have stone fruits, like cherries, and plums, those that have berries like raspberries and strawberries; and pomes which include apples and pears.

Did you know that if you plan it right you can have the same types of trees that bear fruit at different times of the year. For example, there are some apples that bear fruit in the late spring and other apples bear fruit in the fall.

Did you know that most varieties of fruit will not breed true from seed. Instead, cuttings from a fruit bearing tree (called the scion) are usually grafted onto a rootstock. The rootstock is a different tissue type than the scion, and the root and the branches grow together but remain biologically different.

Did you know that some fruit bearing trees are full size, but you can also grow dwarf or semi dwarf trees? The dwarf trees are smaller and take up less space on a smaller property. You can grow many varieties of dwarf trees only 6 feet apart from each other. Marisa and I think we might want to raise a small orchard of dwarf trees.

Do any of you have experience growing fruit trees? What advice would you give us as we start the process of planning what types of trees to get for our property. We probably won't start until next spring but it's never too early to begin learning about it.

If You Love Honeycrisps.....

My friend Tressa first turned me onto the Honeycrisp apple. I can't find them in my local grocery store, only at the farmers market. Often we would go together buying apples a bushel at a time. The vendor got to know us and when the farmers market season was over, he gave us his card. We were able to contact him and continue purchasing the Honeycrisps until his cold storage unit was empty. Now, if you are a huge fan of the Honeycrisp apple like I am, you would wonder how an apple could get even better...but read on. I can't wait to try the successor to the Honeycrisp.

By STEVE KARNOWSKI, Associated Press Writer Steve Karnowski, Associated Press Writer – Thu Sep 3, 7:11 am ET

LAKE CITY, Minn. – Tim Byrne picked an apple from the spindly tree, sliced it and popped a chunk into his mouth. He couldn't have been more pleased as he chomped and got a juicy blast of sweet-tart flavor.
"This is what's got us excited," Byrne said as he shared samples from a perfectly ripe SweeTango apple, which he and other growers are about to introduce as the successor to the incredibly successful Honeycrisp.
Honeycrisp was a phenomenon in the apple industry because its taste and texture were so good it sold for about $1 more per pound than other varieties. Those investing in SweeTango are banking on it commanding the same premium price, and they've formed a cooperative to grow and sell it nationwide.
SweeTango will start showing up in some Minnesota farmers markets Labor Day weekend and arrive in selected grocery stores around the Twin Cities, Seattle and Rochester, N.Y., a few days later. If all goes according to plan, the apple should be available nationwide in 2011 or 2012, said Byrne, who's president of the cooperative and vice president of sales and marketing for Pepin Heights Orchards in southeastern Minnesota.
SweeTango and Honeycrisp were developed at the University of Minnesota. The new apple has Honeycrisp's crispness and juice but kicks up the flavor and adds an intriguing note of fall spice. It was made by crossing Honeycrisp with Zestar!, another University of Minnesota variety.
"It inherited Honeycrisp's texture, and that's a rare commodity, and it actually has more flavor than Honeycrisp," said David Bedford, the university apple breeder who helped develop Honeycrisp and SweeTango.
Another asset is SweeTango is ready in early September. "Woefully few" premium apples come out then, when produce managers are eager for something new to start the fall season, Byrne said.
The university earned more than $8 million from Honeycrisp, mostly from a $1 per tree royalty paid by licensed nurseries before the patent expired in November.
The school will earn a similar royalty on the SweeTango patent. But it also licensed the SweeTango trademark to Byrne and a group of growers who audaciously named their cooperative the Next Big Thing, in the hope that SweeTango will prove as lucrative as Honeycrisp. The co-op will pay the school 4.5 percent of the apple's net wholesale sales in perpetuity.
Bedford said he expects the university to earn as much on the deal as it did from Honeycrisp, with the money supporting more research. But Byrne said he expects the school to do even better.
The arrangement creates a "managed variety," a relatively new concept for U.S. growers but more common abroad. The Jazz apple from New Zealand and Pink Lady from Australia are managed varieties sold in the U.S. Honeycrisp is a managed variety in Europe.
The deal gives Next Big Thing control over who can grow SweeTango and where, and how the apple is marketed and shipped. The co-op has about 72 growers in Minnesota, Michigan, New York, Washington, Wisconsin, Quebec and Nova Scotia.
Any Minnesota grower can get licensed through Pepin Heights to grow and sell SweeTango at their farms, farmers markets or to local grocers. Byrne said 87 have signed up. They pay the $1 per tree royalty, but not the 4.5 percent of sales.
Growers outside Minnesota must join the co-op to get SweeTango. The trees likely won't be available to the general public until the patent expires in 2028, Byrne said.
Other major horticultural schools are developing managed varieties, too, including the apple programs at Cornell University and Washington State University. But only the top new varieties are likely to attract enough interest to merit becoming managed, said Bedford, who expects most to be released to everyone as before.
An important advantage of managed varieties is they allow growers to enforce high quality standards, Byrne said. An emerging problem with Honeycrisp, which debuted in 1991, is that anyone can grow it, so it's now planted at some sites that are too warm and the quality can suffer, he said.
And Byrne said quality is the key to getting Americans, particularly children, to eat more apples. Many kids have been turned off by the low-quality apples they often get at school, he said.
"We're fighting for that share of stomach," Byrne said, "and we firmly believe that we have to be able to provide a great eating experience so that when a kid is given a choice between a really good apple and something else snacky, that the apple will be the one they choose."