Today I was watching this video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hsGb1SXLuc ) and then panicked!
I've been watering my garden all spring and summer with the garden hose - of course hooked up to the chlorinated city water. Then I started searching and found this: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1548.html.
So maybe there's nothing to worry about, other than the top inch or so? But I think it's time to start storing water in little buckets or a big barrel and then using the water the next day for the watering. I feel, more educated but a bit silly for not thinking of it before, too. Even when I change the fish tank water I'd let the water sit overnight. That wasn't just to get it up to room temperature, but also to let the chlorine evaporate away, too. I'm going to do the same with the garden water starting as soon as possible. More buckets needed!
Pots on Posts
Around the Internet today I found a very cute idea (here: http://www.bystephanielynn.com/2010/06/recycled-tin-can-flower-caddy.html) using tins as pots and screwing them on to wood. That's the easiest way I could explain it so check the link for the really cute end product, it's way more cutesy than I can do.
I hadn't thought about using screws through pots before. I had just used nylon string to hang a few pots I had. But the idea was too good not to try - albeit in my own super-cheap not-so-cutesy way.
I did use 2 screws instead of just 1 because my faith in a single screw holding up a gallon of wet dirt isn't too great.
I think it doesn't look too bad - surely it'll be great with little plants growing in it, or maybe cascading over the edges.
I decided to add more pots after I stood back and looked and pondered.
I'm looking forward to growing some good things in this new area I started making today. Hopefully this gives someone else some ideas, too, like the other blogger's idea helped me think of screwing pots on to these ugly posts.
I hadn't thought about using screws through pots before. I had just used nylon string to hang a few pots I had. But the idea was too good not to try - albeit in my own super-cheap not-so-cutesy way.
I did use 2 screws instead of just 1 because my faith in a single screw holding up a gallon of wet dirt isn't too great.
I think it doesn't look too bad - surely it'll be great with little plants growing in it, or maybe cascading over the edges.
I decided to add more pots after I stood back and looked and pondered.
I'm looking forward to growing some good things in this new area I started making today. Hopefully this gives someone else some ideas, too, like the other blogger's idea helped me think of screwing pots on to these ugly posts.
Window Plant Shelves
With winter seemingly right around the corner I've been looking for ideas for more space to grow more plants indoors. I love the idea of plants in front of windows - who wants to just see the gloomy winter skies? Not me! I found this http://www.prettyhandygirl.com/2010/09/diy-glass-window-shelves.html today and love the idea! Not only that, this pretty handy girl makes this idea look super easy to do!
I've added her idea to my future ideas bookmarks :) and finally have a good use for the free glass shelves I picked up off craiglist.org a few weeks ago.
Update! Sept. 2nd, 2012:I finally figured out how to do something close enough to the DIY Glass Window Shelves I saw when I originally made this post. Here they are:
Even though most of the shelves get good sun exposure through the window, I was a little concerned about the top shelf. (So much for thinking ahead.) So I added a little plant light on the very top corner of the wall where it meets the ceiling. It looks a little cheesy right now but I think after some plants get growing on these shelves it won't look so bad.
I used these free glass shelves that I had picked up from a local woman who had listed them for free on craiglist.org:
I still have plenty of glass left so I'm still thinking of ways to use up the rest of the stack.
The glass shelves came with cheesy fragile plastic connectors that didn't seem strong enough to hold anything securely, so I used some thumbtacks instead. Yep, I'm that cheap, but after trying it out I discovered cheapness pays off. The glass shelves aren't going to fly off the wood any time soon :)
I just used some 1 1/2" x 3/4" wood also found free in a shed that someone on craigslist.org had to have empty before they moved. The little pieces of wood were really easy to work with (soft) and get the thumbtacks into. They were also strong enough to hold the glass shelves across the 53" span without bending :) I'm thinking of keeping my eyes open for more wood of this small size. It was a nice surprise it worked so well.
I've added her idea to my future ideas bookmarks :) and finally have a good use for the free glass shelves I picked up off craiglist.org a few weeks ago.
Update! Sept. 2nd, 2012:I finally figured out how to do something close enough to the DIY Glass Window Shelves I saw when I originally made this post. Here they are:
Even though most of the shelves get good sun exposure through the window, I was a little concerned about the top shelf. (So much for thinking ahead.) So I added a little plant light on the very top corner of the wall where it meets the ceiling. It looks a little cheesy right now but I think after some plants get growing on these shelves it won't look so bad.
I used these free glass shelves that I had picked up from a local woman who had listed them for free on craiglist.org:
I still have plenty of glass left so I'm still thinking of ways to use up the rest of the stack.
The glass shelves came with cheesy fragile plastic connectors that didn't seem strong enough to hold anything securely, so I used some thumbtacks instead. Yep, I'm that cheap, but after trying it out I discovered cheapness pays off. The glass shelves aren't going to fly off the wood any time soon :)
I just used some 1 1/2" x 3/4" wood also found free in a shed that someone on craigslist.org had to have empty before they moved. The little pieces of wood were really easy to work with (soft) and get the thumbtacks into. They were also strong enough to hold the glass shelves across the 53" span without bending :) I'm thinking of keeping my eyes open for more wood of this small size. It was a nice surprise it worked so well.
'Re-growing' Romaine Lettuce
Romaine lettuce seems to taste better to me than any head lettuce, and have been thinking of growing it (or at least trying to) over winter. Then I found this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG5grykNhGI&feature=related and see it's possible with no seeds required!
Coffee Cup Herbs
Do you have too many coffee cups? I sure do! Now here's a neat idea to use them as herb containers: http://www.bystephanielynn.com/2010/05/hanging-coffee-cup-herb-garden.html. I really wish I'd seen this before I spent so much time looking for traditional planters! There always seems to be not enough room on the cupboard shelf for all the cups I've gotten over the years.
Herbs: 4 Beginner Mistakes
Yes, I've been guilty of at least 2 of these beginner mistakes and sometimes I still over-water, but I'm working on letting seedlings do their thing without drowning them.
Strawberries: Need bees or not?
I'd really like to grow strawberries indoors during the winter. I'm not sure if it's possible but I was looking around websites to try and learn more when I saw http://www.tealco.net/window_edible_herb_garden.html (basically a sales page) trying to sell Indoor Terrarium Kits. One of the kits is for growing strawberries indoors. I first thought... someone is going to be sad to not get any strawberries - unless they have bees indoors, too. Then I thought, well, maybe strawberry plants don't need bees to make strawberries to eat.
I later found this: http://www.ehow.com/facts_7557232_do-plants-need-pollinated-bees.html which in summary says "The new flowers mostly rely on the wind to circulate pollen among the plants." Wow! I did not know this, and find it amazing to find out since it means perhaps I can grow strawberries indoors in the winter ... with a fan close by to make wind. We'll see, but it's worth a shot to try at least.
I later found this: http://www.ehow.com/facts_7557232_do-plants-need-pollinated-bees.html which in summary says "The new flowers mostly rely on the wind to circulate pollen among the plants." Wow! I did not know this, and find it amazing to find out since it means perhaps I can grow strawberries indoors in the winter ... with a fan close by to make wind. We'll see, but it's worth a shot to try at least.
Inspirational Secret Garden
Wow! Somehow I clicked around online and found this page http://www.notjustahousewife.net/2012/07/a-secret-garden.html about a secret garden, with so many great photos I simply must remember these ideas for a future garden space!
Saving Strawberry Seeds
I've managed to remove about a dozen strawberry seeds from a strawberry picked off a plant I bought as a start earlier this year. I wasn't sure what to do with them so I looked around and found this: http://strawberryplants.org/2010/05/strawberry-seeds/
Help on Vacation
This last week was a surprise working vacation of sorts, helping far away people do jobs meant to not be done alone. While I was away I wondered if any of my plants, some of which I had just planted a few days before I left, would survive without me! Much to my surprise the plants and seedlings didn't seem to care who watered them, just as long as they were watered.
I think I lost some catnip sprouts that were left alone and dried out on a corner table, though not much lost there. The only reason other than the cats for catnip was to use the leaves to make catnip tea - apparently it makes a healthy tea but I may never find out how it tastes at this rate. Out of the six little starter spots I had reserved for catnip, only one lonely little sprout made it.
For the good news, nothing else died. The strawberry transplant is still struggling, though. And the random ivy starts that were finally transplanted to gallon pots may not make it after all. No big surprises there. Luckily the pinto beans actually are putting up a good fight to survive, and the mystery seedlings are still growing into something. I'm still kicking myself for being in a rush to clean up and so forgetting to label those containers.
I also came home to find 6 strawberries ripe for the picking, so the strawberry stealing squirrels even unwatched by my suspicious eyes did not manage to get the lid off the chicken wire cage protecting the poor little strawberry plants. The single cauliflower that grew and grew for weeks did seem to be attacked at some moment over the last few days while I was away. It looked an awful lot like bird beak marks, so the local crows are once again not liked by me. Best of all, there are now three cucumbers growing where before it looked like there may be none this year.
The gifted bowl of garden bounty seemed fair payment to the stand-in gardener (watering helper) for the few days of help. Though I'm wondering now about a garden hose system timer, not because I mind sharing, but because it shouldn't feel like an emergency to make sure plants don't die while we're away. Yet another idea for the future - self watering timers!
I think I lost some catnip sprouts that were left alone and dried out on a corner table, though not much lost there. The only reason other than the cats for catnip was to use the leaves to make catnip tea - apparently it makes a healthy tea but I may never find out how it tastes at this rate. Out of the six little starter spots I had reserved for catnip, only one lonely little sprout made it.
For the good news, nothing else died. The strawberry transplant is still struggling, though. And the random ivy starts that were finally transplanted to gallon pots may not make it after all. No big surprises there. Luckily the pinto beans actually are putting up a good fight to survive, and the mystery seedlings are still growing into something. I'm still kicking myself for being in a rush to clean up and so forgetting to label those containers.
I also came home to find 6 strawberries ripe for the picking, so the strawberry stealing squirrels even unwatched by my suspicious eyes did not manage to get the lid off the chicken wire cage protecting the poor little strawberry plants. The single cauliflower that grew and grew for weeks did seem to be attacked at some moment over the last few days while I was away. It looked an awful lot like bird beak marks, so the local crows are once again not liked by me. Best of all, there are now three cucumbers growing where before it looked like there may be none this year.
The gifted bowl of garden bounty seemed fair payment to the stand-in gardener (watering helper) for the few days of help. Though I'm wondering now about a garden hose system timer, not because I mind sharing, but because it shouldn't feel like an emergency to make sure plants don't die while we're away. Yet another idea for the future - self watering timers!
Finding Trellis Ideas
I have started looking for trellis ideas for hiding the gappy fence the neighbors put up a couple of months ago. It's got lots of wide gaps in it, so I'm calling it gappy, and frankly I don't like it one bit.
I don't have the money to just go buy some trellis material or a pre-built trellis, but I do know how to recycle or re-purpose free wood scraps found on a weekly basis on the local craiglist.org free section postings. So these ideas are the ones I like so far, keeping in mind I'll have to be able to build it myself, and it's got to be inexpensive, yet effective! Remember, too, the idea is for the plant to eventually hide the trellis, so shape and practicality are more important than looks to me at this point.
I don't have the money to just go buy some trellis material or a pre-built trellis, but I do know how to recycle or re-purpose free wood scraps found on a weekly basis on the local craiglist.org free section postings. So these ideas are the ones I like so far, keeping in mind I'll have to be able to build it myself, and it's got to be inexpensive, yet effective! Remember, too, the idea is for the plant to eventually hide the trellis, so shape and practicality are more important than looks to me at this point.
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRYwxc-_feM&feature=related - This one is meant for peas and beans, so it's certainly strong enough for ivy, right? I really like that miniature type arbor design at the top, too.
- http://www.houzz.com/photos/28784/Cool-Metal-Garden-Art--landscape-other-metros - I really like this idea because it's a very narrow trellis and looks like some small planters could be hung on it or attached somehow while waiting for the climbing vines to cover the trellis to the top. Most of all it looks like it could be done with free scraps of wood from craiglist.org, too.
- http://statebystategardening.com/state.php/ga/blog_02/go_vertical_in_the_garden/ - There are a couple of ideas here that look really easy to use. The 2nd picture down showing a lattice against a brick wall seems smart, as does the 6th photo showing a corner idea for growing a variety of plants in a corner lattice set-up from the Chicago Botanic Garden.
Ah-ha Planinng Ahead is Wise
I was starting to have doubts about spending so much time this past week worrying about what would be growing this fall. Then I read this. Now I see I'm about a week behind!
Wild Ivy Plants
Every once in a while I'll decide to plant something that's not edible, like flowers to attract bees, or herbs to ward off aphids, but this isn't about either of those. This is about some wild ivy I spotted a few months ago growing in a raised garden bed. It seemed like it would be a shame to let some free climbing potential privacy providing type plant go to waste.
I let a wild ivy plant that sprouted up in a raised garden bed grow over this summer, with plans of transplanting it to hide a fence section one day. With fall planting times coming closer, it seemed to me today would be a good day to finally try to transplant the ivy. I say "try" because I have no idea if it'll survive the transplant or not. I moved the vines around a bit to show where it's been growing almost all summer:
Here is what it looked like after I started digging around the far edges to try and not dig right through a root:
I was very surprised to find not just 1, but 2 different wild ivy plants:
Even though the roots didn't seem to be connected, the 2 ivy plants' vines were very tangled up with each other above ground. I very carefully untwisted the vines and ended up with 1 ivy plant with many more vines than the other:
I very carefully buried the roots of each plant in 2 different pots, and used the same dirt that they were growing in originally:
I moved them to the other size of the house where I really am hoping they will grow. I guess now I better get to figuring out how to build some sort of trellis for them to grow up on.
I let a wild ivy plant that sprouted up in a raised garden bed grow over this summer, with plans of transplanting it to hide a fence section one day. With fall planting times coming closer, it seemed to me today would be a good day to finally try to transplant the ivy. I say "try" because I have no idea if it'll survive the transplant or not. I moved the vines around a bit to show where it's been growing almost all summer:
Here is what it looked like after I started digging around the far edges to try and not dig right through a root:
I was very surprised to find not just 1, but 2 different wild ivy plants:
Even though the roots didn't seem to be connected, the 2 ivy plants' vines were very tangled up with each other above ground. I very carefully untwisted the vines and ended up with 1 ivy plant with many more vines than the other:
I very carefully buried the roots of each plant in 2 different pots, and used the same dirt that they were growing in originally:
I moved them to the other size of the house where I really am hoping they will grow. I guess now I better get to figuring out how to build some sort of trellis for them to grow up on.
Strawberry Transplant
One of the problems I found after squirrels were rummaging about in the very small strawberry patch last week was this little strawberry plant growing from a runner being uprooted. When I found it, instead of just re-planting it where it was, I cut the runner, and gave it a new place to try and survive. The root on this one isn't even an inch long, but I tried to save it and moved it to one of the free nursery pots I picked up through a craigslist.org ad. I noticed last night that just watering it over the last few days had caused the root to not really be in the dirt anymore, it was just sort of resting on the top of the dirt. I pushed it back in the dirt this morning, but I'm not sure if it'll stay in there! The root is just so tiny I'm thinking it won't make it, but it's worth a try just in case.
As you can see the big leaves on top are not happy, sagging over at the stems - but at least they're not dry. I did notice a new set of leaves growing under the flopped over leaves, so I'm hopeful. I'll keep a close eye on this one to see if it makes it, and try not to kill it by over-watering.
Of course after I transplanted this plant I found very helpful information here: http://strawberryplants.org/2010/05/strawberry-plant-propagation/ so sharing.
As you can see the big leaves on top are not happy, sagging over at the stems - but at least they're not dry. I did notice a new set of leaves growing under the flopped over leaves, so I'm hopeful. I'll keep a close eye on this one to see if it makes it, and try not to kill it by over-watering.
Of course after I transplanted this plant I found very helpful information here: http://strawberryplants.org/2010/05/strawberry-plant-propagation/ so sharing.
Mystery Sprouts
Well, I did it again. I got so into planting a variety of seeds last week that I forgot to label a set of 6 little plastic cups. Today I noticed the sprouts and looked for a label to see what I managed to get started, and saw no sign of a label. :( Whatever they are, I hope they grow up and live long enough for me to find out!
I started these indoors, but stuck them outside for a while today since it's not too hot yet. I'll bring them back indoors well before nightfall so they don't get too cold or eaten up by random night creatures before morning.
The little plastic cups are super cheap and linked here on Amazon.com. Way better than those little biodegradable seed starter pots because these are re-useable so I only had to buy them once! Just pop out the seedling along with the dirt, re-fill & re-use. They also stack really well for storage!
I started these indoors, but stuck them outside for a while today since it's not too hot yet. I'll bring them back indoors well before nightfall so they don't get too cold or eaten up by random night creatures before morning.
The little plastic cups are super cheap and linked here on Amazon.com. Way better than those little biodegradable seed starter pots because these are re-useable so I only had to buy them once! Just pop out the seedling along with the dirt, re-fill & re-use. They also stack really well for storage!
Barrel Planter Idea
This barrel planter idea is too clever for me, because it requires tools I don't have. But if you're a little creative you probably come up with a few ways to be able to do this with just a few changes, too: www.designsponge.com/2011/06/diy-project-recycled-barrel-planter.html I'm now disappointed that last week I missed out on a randomly found free half-barrel on www.craigslist.org! Now I'll have to look for one on purpose. :)
I'm Pro Containers
I really love container gardening. I like knowing exactly what type of dirt is where, what plants belong and what mysterious plants don't. When I first planned to make raised garden beds, it wasn't just for some usual reasons: not having to bend over so far, gopher proofing bottom layers with wire mesh, keeping track of past and future crop rotation placements, etc. It was because I really have very little idea of what's a weed and what's not a weed until it's got a few leaves on it. There's no way I'd just plant a few seeds in flat dirt in rows and keep the weeds from starving the plants I intend to grow. So I'm always on the lookout for new container ideas.
Maybe after I'm a bit more experienced I'll be more comfortable throwing seeds into miniature ditches in the ground, but until then, I'll stick with containers. From paper rolls and empty yogurt cups and old cartons, to free nursery pots and scrap wood screwed together randomly to make all shapes of boxes, free planting containers are everywhere! Mostly I find them in the grocery store in the shapes of plastic food containers that are easily cut with a utility knife, and on Craigslist.org where there are people almost every day giving away free pots of all sorts. Sometimes they're just moving, or cleaning out a shed. Other times it's free nursery pots overflowing from a landscaping company - or even a nursery itself!
The big containers (raised garden beds) I have so far in my very small backyard were all put together using free scrap wood. So long as the wood isn't treated or painted on the inside with old lead paint it seems to be okay. I used all sorts of screws, and nails, basically whatever I found laying around or super cheap (or free) on Craigslist.org. If I get free wood with screws or hinges attached, I just undo them and save them for later. Mason jars are a great way to store all these things without fear of rust or getting poked through a plastic or paper bag.
I have found dozens and dozens of free pots online also. I try to keep looking only very close to my own neighborhood, otherwise the price of gas defeats the purpose of finding free things. Ordering from Amazon.com and getting free shipping is sometimes a much simpler option for the same cost as gas spent driving around picking up little items here & there. But I'm getting better at being patient and more frugal each week. I've learned to look for larger quantities of free items at a single close location, or finding things "on the way" so I don't have to make multiple trips. So far, so good.
If you're going to be searching on craigslist, too, try looking for more than just "free pots". Sometimes people use different phrases in their free item titles and descriptions such as: nursery pots, plastic pots, plastic planters, hanging planters, half-barrels, seedling containers, etc.
If you're not sure what size pots, planters, or containers you should have for whatever you're growing, check out this extremely useful factsheet: http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1647.html.
Maybe after I'm a bit more experienced I'll be more comfortable throwing seeds into miniature ditches in the ground, but until then, I'll stick with containers. From paper rolls and empty yogurt cups and old cartons, to free nursery pots and scrap wood screwed together randomly to make all shapes of boxes, free planting containers are everywhere! Mostly I find them in the grocery store in the shapes of plastic food containers that are easily cut with a utility knife, and on Craigslist.org where there are people almost every day giving away free pots of all sorts. Sometimes they're just moving, or cleaning out a shed. Other times it's free nursery pots overflowing from a landscaping company - or even a nursery itself!
The big containers (raised garden beds) I have so far in my very small backyard were all put together using free scrap wood. So long as the wood isn't treated or painted on the inside with old lead paint it seems to be okay. I used all sorts of screws, and nails, basically whatever I found laying around or super cheap (or free) on Craigslist.org. If I get free wood with screws or hinges attached, I just undo them and save them for later. Mason jars are a great way to store all these things without fear of rust or getting poked through a plastic or paper bag.
I have found dozens and dozens of free pots online also. I try to keep looking only very close to my own neighborhood, otherwise the price of gas defeats the purpose of finding free things. Ordering from Amazon.com and getting free shipping is sometimes a much simpler option for the same cost as gas spent driving around picking up little items here & there. But I'm getting better at being patient and more frugal each week. I've learned to look for larger quantities of free items at a single close location, or finding things "on the way" so I don't have to make multiple trips. So far, so good.
If you're going to be searching on craigslist, too, try looking for more than just "free pots". Sometimes people use different phrases in their free item titles and descriptions such as: nursery pots, plastic pots, plastic planters, hanging planters, half-barrels, seedling containers, etc.
If you're not sure what size pots, planters, or containers you should have for whatever you're growing, check out this extremely useful factsheet: http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1647.html.
New Kohl Rabi Seeds
Today a friend of mine said someone at work brought in some Kohlrabi (Kohl Rabi - I'm still not sure if it's one word or two). He told me that if I can grow some, I should because it's delicious. Okay, I thought, I'm bored with the normal types of seeds so what the heck. What's the worst thing that can happen?
I'd been waiting for a good excuse to justify using some more gasoline. So I drove around to a few local shops and finally found some seeds. Kohlrabi Early White Vienna. They're from the American Seed company - Finest Quality Since 1897 it says on the package. The seed packet cost 20cents (so I bought a lot of packets). It also says Net Wt. 200MG. I just opened a packet to see how many seeds were inside, and to my surprise the seeds look like cabbage seeds. Round and small and hard to count in my cupped hand, but it looks like about 30 Kohlrabi seeds.
After looking on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohlrabi I'm thinking this Kohlrabi veggie is probably pretty healthy. It says it's from the same family as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, collard greens, and Brussels sprouts. I'm also hoping it's as good as my friend says it is - after all, I'm not really into the taste of kale or Brussels sprouts.
I'm going to spend some time watching YouTube videos to see if I think I can grow this indoors or not. So far, it's looking pretty good because I'm reading it can be grown just about anywhere. Only time will tell. Unfortunately most videos are just showing transplanting of the Kohlrabi and not giving a lot of details about how to get it started from seed, so I'll probably just end up learning by trial and error again! That's another reason I bought lots of seed packets, just in case they're needed.
Here's a good picture of what full grown Kohlrabi looks like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KohlrabiinMarket.jpg I'm trying to remember it's supposedly tastes great!
I'd been waiting for a good excuse to justify using some more gasoline. So I drove around to a few local shops and finally found some seeds. Kohlrabi Early White Vienna. They're from the American Seed company - Finest Quality Since 1897 it says on the package. The seed packet cost 20cents (so I bought a lot of packets). It also says Net Wt. 200MG. I just opened a packet to see how many seeds were inside, and to my surprise the seeds look like cabbage seeds. Round and small and hard to count in my cupped hand, but it looks like about 30 Kohlrabi seeds.
After looking on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohlrabi I'm thinking this Kohlrabi veggie is probably pretty healthy. It says it's from the same family as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, collard greens, and Brussels sprouts. I'm also hoping it's as good as my friend says it is - after all, I'm not really into the taste of kale or Brussels sprouts.
I'm going to spend some time watching YouTube videos to see if I think I can grow this indoors or not. So far, it's looking pretty good because I'm reading it can be grown just about anywhere. Only time will tell. Unfortunately most videos are just showing transplanting of the Kohlrabi and not giving a lot of details about how to get it started from seed, so I'll probably just end up learning by trial and error again! That's another reason I bought lots of seed packets, just in case they're needed.
Here's a good picture of what full grown Kohlrabi looks like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KohlrabiinMarket.jpg I'm trying to remember it's supposedly tastes great!
Squirrels Stealing Strawberries
I have about a half-dozen strawberry plants planted in a raised garden bed. I thought it would be pretty smart to have some planted in pots and some planted in the boxes just to see if there would be any difference in how many strawberries grew.
Almost every morning I take a little walk out to the backyard to see how everything is getting along and if any plants look like they could use another drink of water before the heat of the day sets in. One morning a few weeks ago I found a strawberry on the dirt, out of the raised garden bed, just laying there by its lonesome self with a little tiny bite taken out of it. At the time I didn't see this as a bad thing. I figured that since whatever it was that only tasted the strawberry (instead of eating the whole thing and leaving no evidence) that I didn't have anything to worry about. I actually thought it was a good thing that whatever tried it, didn't eat the whole thing so he/she must not have liked it very much.
I was wrong. I had underestimated the taste buds and sneakiness of squirrels.
As the weeks went on, it seemed like I was noticing more strawberries, that I thought were almost ripe, missing the next day when I expected to find them ripe and ready to pick. Then last week I found a strawberry still in the garden box, with 3 bites out of it. Maybe I accidentally scared whatever was eating it away when it heard me walking its way? I'll never know for sure. But what I do know, is that something besides me is getting the good stuff after all the hard work I put in and that I had to do something about it, and fast. Squirrels. Previously cute, now turned evil, squirrels.
Luckily, a couple weeks ago I picked up some free partial rolls of chicken wire and some semi-decent looking scrap wood from someone giving away free stuff out of their shed on Craigslist.org. I had other ideas for using the chicken wire at the time, but this project was more important to me. After all, I really like strawberries - and squirrels are greedy!
I built a little chicken wire cage to protect my small strawberry patch. Here's a picture I hope gives a good enough idea of what it looks like:
I keep checking to see if there is a squirrel that managed to get in but not out, but nothing yet. I'm hoping I outsmarted the squirrels but after the YouTube videos I've seen about them I found out they're really bold and brave, so I'm not so sure. There are so many ideas for keeping squirrels out of strawberries Google Squirrels and Strawberries, including cages, covers, and squirrel repellents (even some wild animal urine - gross!).
Almost every morning I take a little walk out to the backyard to see how everything is getting along and if any plants look like they could use another drink of water before the heat of the day sets in. One morning a few weeks ago I found a strawberry on the dirt, out of the raised garden bed, just laying there by its lonesome self with a little tiny bite taken out of it. At the time I didn't see this as a bad thing. I figured that since whatever it was that only tasted the strawberry (instead of eating the whole thing and leaving no evidence) that I didn't have anything to worry about. I actually thought it was a good thing that whatever tried it, didn't eat the whole thing so he/she must not have liked it very much.
I was wrong. I had underestimated the taste buds and sneakiness of squirrels.
As the weeks went on, it seemed like I was noticing more strawberries, that I thought were almost ripe, missing the next day when I expected to find them ripe and ready to pick. Then last week I found a strawberry still in the garden box, with 3 bites out of it. Maybe I accidentally scared whatever was eating it away when it heard me walking its way? I'll never know for sure. But what I do know, is that something besides me is getting the good stuff after all the hard work I put in and that I had to do something about it, and fast. Squirrels. Previously cute, now turned evil, squirrels.
Luckily, a couple weeks ago I picked up some free partial rolls of chicken wire and some semi-decent looking scrap wood from someone giving away free stuff out of their shed on Craigslist.org. I had other ideas for using the chicken wire at the time, but this project was more important to me. After all, I really like strawberries - and squirrels are greedy!
I built a little chicken wire cage to protect my small strawberry patch. Here's a picture I hope gives a good enough idea of what it looks like:
I keep checking to see if there is a squirrel that managed to get in but not out, but nothing yet. I'm hoping I outsmarted the squirrels but after the YouTube videos I've seen about them I found out they're really bold and brave, so I'm not so sure. There are so many ideas for keeping squirrels out of strawberries Google Squirrels and Strawberries, including cages, covers, and squirrel repellents (even some wild animal urine - gross!).
The First Strawberry
The very first ripe strawberry. It's very small and you can see an unhappy leaf in the background. I bought this as a baby plant because I could not find strawberry seeds in any of the local stores. (Did you know you can buy strawberry plants at the grocery store using food stamps? You can!) I got lucky and successfully transplanted it into a plain old black plastic pot. There is a local nursery that gives away free 1-gallon plain black plastic pots sometimes, and when they do, they advertise the free pots on craigslist.org. I've loaded up my car with dirty spider infested pots and driven straight home to vacuum out the car as fast as possible.
For the first few weeks of this strawberry plants life it was kept indoors under a super cheap grow light (this one: Mr. Light 88761 14W Linkable T5 Grow Light Fixture
). I had a shelf set up indoors just for starting plants, and all was going great until one day I got bugs in air and in the dirt (more on that frustrating event later). It was then that I took all the surviving shelf plants outside. I was hoping that nature would provide some sort of hungry insect that would eat the bugs that were invading my plants. Apparently it did, and this one made it!
Much later and after much hard work I managed to transplant this strawberry plant along with other happy strawberry plants into an actual raised garden bed. I still need to take pictures of that though it did work out nicely and I got many more strawberries from this same plant over the summer.
I found out how to transplant a strawberry plant by watching videos (and getting a bit lost) on YouTube. Search "how to transplant strawberries".
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