Strawberries

When I get back in June from a family reunion it will be the right time to go picking strawberries. I am very excited and better have the money. I plan to make some strawberry jam and can it for my storage and own enjoyment. We'll see, I may just end up freezing it or making freezer jam for now. It all depends on what the budget is like.

I love strawberries. I love berries! I planted blueberry and raspberry bushes and really wanted to plant strawberries. I was told they are hard to do around here so I just decided not to go with it and just keep up with everything else.

Well, today while clearing the weeds from the side of the house I noticed a bunch of red things. Upon closer examination, I didn't have to get that close though, I realized they were strawberries. There was a whole lot of strawberries stretching across the side of the house. I promptly got down to clear the weeds away and give these strawberries some room. I don't know when they were planted or by whom but am very glad they are there. The poor things were forgotten and its probably been years since someone last looked at them and saw them as strawberries. I think the only reason they are still there is because the mower can't get them.

There aren't enough plants to give me a good harvest of strawberries, but they will be fun to pick and eat.



Now if only there were raspberry bushes hiding somewhere I would really be in Heaven.

The Garden

When I moved here a month ago I was excited to see there was a large area already dedicated for a garden. The owner's parents gardened this large area for several years. I don't think it has really been gardened heavily since, but half of the garden (a very large area) was turned over by the owner's brother who is going to share in the garden. He's got the equipment and knowhow, and he cans a lot every year. I am excited.

This is the first time I've had the chance to garden. Living in rentals is always hard to find space and if there wasn't space this time I was determined to container garden. I don't need containers here, there is so much land and I have permission to pretty much plant anything I want, with maybe the exception of fruit trees. As much as the original owners were into gardening I am very surprised that there are no fruit trees here. Anyhow, thus my project has begun.

I don't know much about gardening, but enough to know that if I don't get started now I won't ever learn how. I also feel a big push inside me to get it done, to learn how to garden and put up the harvest. I am going to be busy. What I don't get from my garden I will find at local pick-your-own farms or farmer's markets. I plan to do my fruit that way.

So, before the rain came we planted about four or five things. The rest we were waiting until the threat of frost had past. That day has come and gone without anymore planting because the rain came and came and came and came. If there is no rain on Saturday I hope to do some planting because I leave for two weeks after that.

The rain has done some good and we have a bunch of stuff coming up out of the ground already. This gets me even more excited. I plan to keep a log of all the gardening things going on and the like so that, well, I'll at least have it handy as a reference for next year if no one else gets anything from it.