Before I ever knew what mums, iris, daisies or any other flower was I knew what hens and chicks were. And no I'm not talking about the bird. I'm sorry if your searching brought you here but maybe you are also interested in how to grow hen and chick succulents.
Garden
How to handle spring strawberry bed cleanup
Garden2 CommentsOur family eats a lot of berries in a year. Smoothies, yogurt with berries, berries with brownies and whip cream, strawberry shortcake, sugar free strawberry jam. And that doesn’t count the plain ones eaten as a snack or for breakfast.
Mainly we eat TONS of strawberries but we love blueberries and raspberries as well. So last year our big spring garden project was building square foot garden strawberry beds.
Plants in the ground & water all around
GardenCommentWell I was going to share how my garden was doing today. I seriously considered not doing that because it is really been an yucky week.
10 Days Ago
Hay in place and ground is ready for plants!
The deep mulch of hay on the garden to keep the weeds from getting out of hand was in place. We were ready to plant tomatoes & peppers! I got most of them in the ground. I knew it was going to rain so that seemed like a great thing to have gotten done!
And then it started raining . . . .and it really never stopped.
This weekend
See my sad little tomato plants? They don't like their feet so wet.
I started to dig canals to direct the water away from the plants.
Did I mention I planted 30 tomato plants???
Yeah I ran out of steam before I was done. Steve helped and then Joshua helped to finish it up.
I think he actually had a blast playing in the mud.
So far this week things are drying out! I can't wait to see some sunshine again and be able to plant the rest of the plants & seeds for our Garden Plan for 2015.
**Update on August 1** The canals saved the tomatoes! We have green plants and lots of little green tomatoes. I think we are 2-3 weeks behind "schedule" which means the harvest is coming! I'm just glad the plants survived the "flood"
Recent Garden posts
Finished Project: Strawberry Plants in Square Foot Gardens
Garden1 CommentThe weather is warming up, we are finishing up our school year and spending more and more time working on our garden plan for 2015! Now if it would just stop raining for a week or so that would be amazing!
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Strawberry Beds in the Orchard
I was in the right place at the right time. I stopped at the Amish salvage store and they had LOTS of beautiful strawberry plants for sale!
Before it got too soggy, Steve had the beds built and we got the Square Food Garden dirt mixed. All that was left was to find a way to keep the dogs out & the weeds to a minimum. It all came together very nicely!
Bear. He's my tag along helper. He follows me everywhere.
Cardboard and grass clippings to battle the weeds.
A LOT of grass clippings
Reinforced mesh. Hubby says it's cheap and it will keep the dogs out.
Done! Now to get the plants in the ground!
We spent a whole afternoon getting the dirt mixed and then putting up the fence. Joshua was a HUGE help to his dad! We used half a cattle panel as our gate. It is wired to one side and has a hook on the other side to keep it closed.
Unfortunately it blew over in the night since we didn't have it wired up yet. The dogs definitely need to be blocked out of our gardens. I was seriously unhappy with them the next morning but it could have been much worse!
Dark picture but this is from the dogs digging and nosing around.
Smoothed and ready to plant
We really don't want to mow around these beds so we are using hay to mulch the paths. The bales of hay on the garden are really coming in handy!
We are using the wheelbarrow to slowly move more hay to cover the paths. Needless to say this is itchy & hot work. We do a couple of loads a day when we need a break from other tasks.
This bale had been "peeled" enough that we were able to roll it from one side of the garden all the way to the other side of the house.
That's a long, long way.
That's the kids story anyway.
We did it and everyone survived.
Using the hay as mulch is a great way to use up kid energy, build memories & help them to grow stronger in body & character.
So half of our Square Foot Gardens are now filled. I am thrilled to have that part of the work done! Everyone else cannot wait to taste those strawberries in future years!!
Hay mulch 8-10 inches thick around the beds. Raspberry plants sticking up out of hay too!
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TULIPS
GardenComment
I've never grown tulips. I WILL be planting more of these. So cheerful and happy!
