A Taste of Summer
Yesterday we picked our first three strawberries. As you can imagine – we’re super excited about the flush that will follow most likely next week through the end of June. I see a lot of strawberry shortcake for dinner in the coming weeks!
I have five different kinds of strawberries growing in my edible gardens.
‘Yellow Wonder’ – a yellow alpine strawberry that produces small yellow pineapple flavored berries all summer long. Compact, about 8-10 inches tall and very lush, perfect for edging gardens. Do not produce runners. (source: started from seed a few years ago originally from Baker Creek)
‘Sparkle’ – The best berry for jam and freezing, Sparkle has been known for flavorful, high-quality, attractive fruit for over 60 years. Do not allow the bed to become too thick, and you’ll be rewarded with a nice crop of tasty, medium-sized berries. An extremely vigorous variety, Sparkle is an excellent choice for home gardeners and PYO operations in northern climates. (source: plants from Nourse Farms)
‘Allstar’ – Allstar produces a good crop of very large, light-colored, sweet berries. Glossy, firm fruit makes this variety excellent for fresh eating. This widely adapted variety has performed consistently well from the East to central Midwest. It is highly resistant to red stele, with intermediate resistance to Verticillium wilt. (source: plants from Nourse Farms)
‘Earliglow’ – “Wonderful strawberry flavor” is this variety’s trademark. Earliglow’s fruit has a very firm, glossy skin, firm flesh, and medium size. Its sweet flavor makes the variety excellent for fresh eating and freezing. Fruit size tends to decrease as the season progresses. Earliglow plants are very vigorous and runner well. This variety has good resistance to red stele and intermediate resistance to Verticillium wilt. Recommended for beginners. (source: plants from Nourse Farms)
‘Tarpan’ – Starts producing abundant, 1-1 1/2″, deep rose flowers in about 85 days. Plant in a hanging basket, container, or in the ground. The bright red, small to medium-sized fruit are plentiful, tasty, and will produce from midsummer to frost. Produces runners. (source: seeds from Johnny’s)
I’d also love to add some ‘Tri-Star’ berries to my gardens someday. I’ve heard good things about them and I like that they’re everbearing. I’d love to have a few strawberries to add to my salad every so often.
Have you been harvesting strawberries yet? Do you grow June bearing or ever bearing varieties?
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Inspired by Monticello
Last week I was getting ready to plant my cucumbers and was contemplating what kind of supports I wanted to use. The last two years I have used bamboo stakes and they have never been quite long enough or quite sturdy enough. As I was standing in the garden thinking, I remembered my visit to Monticello last summer. I took a lot of photos of the various forms of plant supports because I loved how they used natural materials.
Since we’re clearing out that new garden, I have more than enough saplings and small trees for using at plant supports. I cut 12 small trees and made 3 structures for my cucumbers. I planted one variety of cucumber on each trellis. I planted 4 seeds at the base of each leg and I will let the 3 best ones grow.
In previous years I’ve only grown one type of pickle ‘Boston Pickling’. I’ve always been happy with it, but this year I wanted to try a few others. The varieties of cucumbers I’m growing for the 2011 season:
Solly Beiler – This cucumber makes superior pickles when harvested at about the size of your thumb. Spectacularly productive in our trials, the plants yield very uniform fruits, which at full maturity are russeted like a Poona Kheera. Stays crisp and mild even at larger sizes. Developed in the 1930’s by Solomon “Solly” Beiler, then a bishop in the Beachy Amish Mennonite Church, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Our original seed was furnished by Martin J. Hughes, a present day member of the same church in Elmira, New York (source: Baker Creek)
Fin de Meaux – Slender, little green fruit are picked when 2 inches long and are used to make delicious cornichon pickles. A popular French variety that is hard to find. Very productive plants bear fruit that is darker green than most types. (source: Baker Creek)
Boston Pickling – Plant produces heavy yields of small 6″ long pickling type cucumbers. This variety has been grown by home gardeners for generations. Perfect for making pickles, but also good in salads. Harvest cucumbers when they are 2″ to 6″ long. (source: originally from Baker Creek but they longer carry them)
The square around the base of each trellis is probably about 4 foot by 4 foot. In the middle of each square I seeded a variety of lettuces in decorative squares. I thought the shade provided by the cucumber vines would help keep the lettuce a little cooler.
I don’t grow any eating cucumbers as neither Mr Chiots or I eat them. Cucumbers give me indigestion, even the burpless variety, so I’ve never really enjoyed eating them. I do make a variety of pickles, from sweet to fermented dill and I’m certainly looking forward to stashing lots of pickles in the pantry to winter eating!
Do you grow pickling cucumbers, regular cucumbers, or both? What varieties do you grow?
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It’s Called Catmint for a Reason!
I have a large number of ‘Walker’s Low’ Catmint (Nepeta x fassennii ‘Walker’s Low’) in the garden. It’s a beautiful plant, so easy and carefree to grow. Contrary to what you might think, the name does not imply that it is a small plant, it’s named for a place in England. I have a few mature plants that are about 3 ft square each.
Catmint is a tough as nails. It takes just about any kind of soil but thrives in those dry areas where other plants might languish. ‘Walker’s Low’ doesn’t reseed so you don’t have to worry about invasiveness, although it’s very easy to propagate with cuttings if you want more plants. (from what I understand other varieties of catmint may reseed, but I don’t have any so I can’t say first hand if they do). This plant is also unpalatable to deer, which is a huge bonus here at Chiot’s Run.
This plant is also fabulous because it looks good all summer long. With a little pruning it will bloom from spring to frost. It’s carefree, bugs don’t bother it much, bees and other beneficials love it! The only pests that will bother your catmint plant are CATs! It’s called catmint for a reason. I find our outdoor cats sleeping in it all the time. Small branches are also brought in for the indoor cats as well, who spend hours rolling on them on the floor.
I like this plant so much I would love to acquire a few other versions of catmint like ‘Six Hills Giant’, ‘Dawn to Dusk’, and ‘Little Titch’ which is a dwarf variety that I think would make a fabulous ground cover.
Catmint isn’t just a pretty face in the garden, it’s an herb that can be used medicinally for a wide variety of ailments from arthritis to menstrual cramps. I dry a lot of it for tea as it’s calming, helping ease stress, anxiety and insomnia – it’s perfect for nighttime tea. Since it had natural antibiotic properties, it’s also said to help when you have the flu or a cold. I’ve also read that it can help with arthritis since it’s an anti-inflammatory. I mostly use it for evening teas along with chamomile and mint from the garden.
Do you grow catmint in your garden? Do you use it medicinally?
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Giant is Right!
I’ve been out cleaning out the raised bed that housed the spinach that I overwintered. The plants started to bolt with the heat that we’ve been having. It seems that overwintered plants have gotten used to the cool weather and bolt at the first sign of heat – so make sure to succession plant to be prepared for this! While cleaning out the bed I came across this leaf on one of the ‘Giant Winter’ Spinach plants.
Now I understand why it’s called GIANT winter spinach – that’s the biggest spinach leaf I’ve ever seen. It’s pretty much a salad unto itself!
Have you ever harvested a giant vegetable in your garden?
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The Promise of Deliciousness
Shipping is a terrible thing to do to vegetables.
They probably get jet-lagged, just like people.
~Elizabeth Berry
Our strawberry bed was one of the first things we installed here as part of our edible garden. My parents always grew strawberries when I was growing up. You simply can’t get any better than freshly picked strawberries! I can’t eat the ones from the store, they’re giant, hollow and taste kind of watery compared to the small red jewels that we harvest from our patch.
While I was out working earlier this week I noticed that our strawberry patch is blooming profusely. I see a delicious red berry where every bloom is. Looks like we’ll be able to enjoy a lot of strawberry shortcake in a month or so. Since we only freeze a few and eat the majority of them fresh, we indulge while they’re in season.
If you have room, I’d definitely recommend putting in a strawberry patch. We’re currently adding a few everbearing varieties so we can have a few berries all summer long for salads. I also need to thin out our patch as they have sprawled into the walkways around the raised beds. I’ll be noting which plants produce the best berries and we’ll take those out and start a new patch in the new garden area.
Do you have a strawberry patch in your garden?
