gardening
<<<<<<< / c / g a r d e n i n g >>>>>>>
read braiding sweetgrass, lib
_ ___
_(_)_ .-' '-.
(_)@(_) / \ ,,, _
(_),,, \^^^^|^^^^/ {{{}}_(_)_
|{{{}} \ | /, ~Y~(_)@(_)
| ~Y~(@)\ | /{}} \|/ (_)
(\|/)| \Y/ \ | / ~Y~ \|/ (\|/)
\|/\|/\|/ \|/ \|/\\|//\\|//
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Let it grow ^.^
__
.-/ \-. If I had a flower
( \__/ ) for each time
/`-./;;\.-`\ I thought
\ _.\;;/._ /
( / \ ) of communism
'-\__/-'.-,
, \\ (-. ) my garden
|\_ ||/.-`would be full
\'.\_ |;`
'--,\|| ,
`;| _/|
// _/.'/
//_/,--'
||'-`
-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^
It's stwaberbby time : )
I got wild strawberries in my backyard and those mfs spread like a motherfucker. Definitely the best native groundcover in the PNW. They're the wild kind, though, so the fruits are useless. The critters love em, though.
Don't strawberrys need pollinators?
Nothing a q-tip can't solve
my outdoor hydroponic NFT system,
Non-fungible Treat system
Nice. Curious as to your nft setup. I am having to overwinter as well, my strawberry beds have been overrun by goutweed and yields are looking poor this season.
I was thinking about cutting them back as usual then digging up the roots and putting them in a big plastic bag with wet shredded newspaper over the winter. Hydroponics I think would be more sustainable in the long term. Also the hydros at the store are amazingly delicious
Curious as to your nft setup.
Once I get some more growth and all my empty slots filled I think I'll post some pics here.
As for over-wintering, initially I was going to keep them in a water bath in my fridge but I think that might create the perfect conditions for root rot. So yeah, moist newspaper or paper towel seems like probably the best bet. Never done this before though I'm just making everything up as I go along.
Strawberries can be wildly successful if you just let 'em. The runners are great and completely bypass the wishy-washy seed-n-grow stage.
I planted about 30 plugs of strawberries that I got from a friend who was renovating their strawberry patch about 5 years ago and now there are literally thousands of plants in the yard. They are a great plant, really vigorous groundcover, they spread and propagate easily, and obviously the berries are great. They are really good for low quality beds like woodchips/hugelkultur because the moms can feed the daughters while they get established. Last year we picked something like 50-75 kg of fruit and the only upkeep I've done aside from picking has been pulling out plants to give away to others.
Braiding sweetgrass has a great section on the generosity of strawberries, 100% true. I also like how their habit encourages you to witness the garden. The flowers and green berries pop out above the leaves to show you where they are, but as they ripen and get heavy they sink down and hide. You won't find the best berries unless you get down low and turn over the plants, then who knows what you'll find.