Picking Strawberries

Our strawberries are ripe! They’re such a delayed gratification crop since you plant them one year and don’t start harvesting till the next. Last year I planted them and dutifully pinched off the blossoms in order for a larger harvest this year.

My efforts were rewarded because our strawberries are producing like crazy. We’ve been out picking them every evening.

We picked our first berries last Thursday, there were only a few ripe then. It seems like they’re kicking into full gear now, we have to go out and pick every night to keep up with them (we’ve picked 4.5 pounds since last Thurs). The chipmunks and slugs are getting a few, but the Chiots loves it because she gets the ones they start on.

I’m glad I planted 3 different kinds; early, mid and late maturing ones to extend our harvest. We’ve already enjoyed our berries in some strawberry rhubarb crisp, strawberry rhubarb syrup over waffles and of course we’ve eaten a lot as is. You just can’t beat berries ripe from the garden.

Do you grow strawberries in your garden?

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A Trip to Griffith’s Greenhouse

There’s a small local greenhouse that I like to go to each spring to get my annuals. I love it because it’s a small family owned greenhouse and Mr Griffith is always there to greet you and help you load your car. I also love that the greenhouse is right behind their house, so you drive past their gardens on your way in.


The main reason I love going is because they always have a great selection of plants that you can’t find at your big box greenhouse. They specialize in annuals with only a few perennials and they are only open spring and summer.


They also cater to people that grow food, so they have tons of edible plants as well as all those annual beneficial plants that you need for around the garden, like nasturtiums, alyssum and marigolds.


You have to get there not too long after they open because if you wait too long all the other locals will buy up all the plants. One year I made the mistake of going too late and the pickings were slim! This year I went right before our last frost (May 15) to make sure I got what I wanted.

I made it home with a whole bunch of plants, some tried and true things I buy each year and a few new and interesting plants to try.

Do you have a special place to buy your spring plants?

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A Trip to Stan Hywet in Akron, OH

Last Tuesday my mom and I went to Stan Hywet to see their peonies in bloom. If you were reading my blog last fall you’ll remember that I got my mom a membership to Stan Hywet for a gift. So far this spring we’ve gone twice, this past week was really nice. They have tons of peonies of all shapes colors and sizes. Unfortunately we had a big thunderstorm the night before so they were a little wet & droopy, but they still looked Fabulous! It happened to be super cold that day (in the 50’s), and kind of dark & dreary, but it was still beautiful!

So for those of you who love peonies and lovely gardens, here’s some eye candy for you. It was very difficult narrowing down the photos, I took so many while there. But here are the best 32 photos for you to enjoy. (the little icon in the top left-hand corner will allow you to see the photos in full screen if you’d like to see them bigger)
[flashgallery folder=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/chiotsrun/sets/72157619308121417/” local=”0″]

What do you think of Stan Hywet?

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Garden Quote: Claude Monet

“I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.”
— Claude Monet

I too love flowers, I’ll never have strictly edibles in my garden. I’ll always have some peonies, siberian irises, zinnias, hollyhocks, foxgloves, hydrangeas, and other beautiful blooms in my gardens.

What’s your favorite blooming plant?

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Mini Veg

The vegetables are all starting to come on, most of them are mini veggies at the moment. Soon enough we’ll be enjoying bounty from the gardens.

I’m really suprised that I had peppers set so early, especially since we’ve had such cold weather (even now it’s in the low 50’s at night). I heard that if you spray them with fish emulsion or seaweed it helps the blooms set into peppers, I guess it works!

These are the Sub Arctic tomatoes, I have one that has a tomato the size of large marble already.

This is one of the late strawberries (we have early, mid & late bearing). I harvested our first batch of strawberries yesterday (1lb 7 oz) and we enjoyed the for dinner before I remembered to take photos.

Do you have baby veg or are you harvesting already?

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