Friday, May 22, 2009

Life Is Just A Bowl Of....Strawberries

Look what I picked out of my front garden this afternoon. I ate some fresh from the ground. No rinsing, no sugar. So sweet and juicy. I feel so accomplished when I grow my own food!

These strawberries grow in my rock garden and produce twice a year. They seem to thrive on neglect. I sometimes forget to even water them.......
I grew raspberries at our place in Minnesota and they seemed to thrive on neglect also. So, when we moved I brought some young plants along thinking they would do the same here. They all died, though. Probably something lacking in my soil. My hostas thrived and are all over the park now, along with the purple cone flowers.
I had decided that I would only invest in perennials for my garden. I carefully read all the info on the little tags provided and settled on yellow tick seed and a plant called Mrs. Bradshaw for a pop of orange. I scattered marigold seed in between until they could spread. They had become established and were starting to spread nicely after two years. I asked love of my life to bring home some horse manure a friend offered. He did, and I worked it into the vegetable garden beds. He said there was still some in the bed of his truck and asked if he should sweep it into the front perennial garden. I thought there was just a minimal amount left and said yes. There was quite a bit and he scooped it all out onto the bed where everything was just beginning to wake from a cold winter. It burned all my plants up, being way too rich. A camper told me to "throw some strawberry plants" on it, saying they would thrive in the manure. I did because I wanted something other than the weeds I knew would overtake it. I thought the ground to be way too dry and rocky to support the growth for more than one season. They are thriving right there in the front bed along with the tick seed and a few Mrs. Bradshaw plants that have risen from the grave.

Rinse, slice, add a tad of sugar and let them sit. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and life is good.

3 comments:

Nancy said...

They look yummy. We bought plants today for our little plot out front. It's weird coming from 2.5 acres in Minnesota to a small little area out front and two decks. One of the decks if full of the deck furniture storage unit - that was supposed to be small enough to go under the deck. Why do men always get something BIG when left to their own devices?

Love your pics!

lovelyprism said...

I love to grow strawberries. They make a great ground cover, spread quickly, have pretty little flowers AND you get fruit. What a perfect plant.

ellen abbott said...

No strawberries here yet but I have plans. We do have a wild blackberry, we call the dew berries, in one of the beds here we have been picking fruit off for two weekends now.