It won't be long now until we get to pick our first crop of strawberries from the garden. These were all transplants from the "L" shaped raised bed layout from last year and have flourished in their new bed. The foliage is growing strong and tall and runners are starting to come out all over place, but what is exciting are the red and nearly ripe berries beginning to appear.
I've been checking them daily, eager to get that first sweet and juicy fruit from the garden! It might be a race to see who gets it first, me or my daughter. I bet you know who will win!
As I've mentioned in an earlier strawberry bed post the best time to fertilize strawberries is after harvesting.I'll be using bloodmeal as an organic nitrogen fertilizer to stimulate more green growth. As the strawberries pu on more green growth they will produce runners which I can then turn into new plants for more berries next year. The new plants will either add to the old ones or replace the strawberry plants that are finished producing. The added benefit of bloodmeal is that rabbits and deer aren't especially fond of the smell.
Some of the strawberries are just turning red while others still have the white-green coloration. It won't be long though a few days of good sun will ripen them up quick. The sun has been hard to come by lately and strawberry farms in the area are seeing rot occurring from the excess moisture. That's another advantage to raised beds, they dry out faster than the ground which reduces rot. Of course that could be a disadvantage when it becomes hot and dry and you have to irrigate.
I can't wait for that first ripened berry off the vine!
Hmm...It appears someone beat us to that first bite!
Labels: fruits, vegetable garden
