One strawberry bed done and one to go.I seriously doubt that we get any strawberries into the freezer this year -- not unless we buy some berries from a roadside produce vendor. After several years of good production, very few of our strawberry plants made it through last summer. I don't know if it was something we did or didn't do, the extreme dryness of last summer or if it was just the plants time to go into decline -- that happens with strawberries -- but it was time to start over with some new berry plants this year.
Jo ordered the new plants and was expecting to hear something regarding their shipping date. Instead, Federal Express delivered them Tuesday. The new arrivals needed to be planted in the garden ASAP, but of course, we had not done any of the necessary bed preparation yet. The strawberry beds were full of weeds. Time to start revising our daily agenda.
Jo began working on the beds, turning the soil over with a spading fork. She looked as if she was enjoying herself so much that I just couldn't resist joining in the fun. We eventually worked out a system where I turned over the soil and she broke up the soil and removed the weeds. Later, Jo went back and raked down the beds.
Turning over those beds should have been relatively easy. The soil has been mulched and amended enough that it's fairly loose -- as compared to the rest of our soil, anyway -- and we removed the rocks when we originally build the beds. However, a nearby sweet gum tree had found the nutrient rich soil of the strawberry beds to be an excellent location for sending its roots. Everyone knows that trees and gardens really don't mix, but having a couple of trees around the perimeter adds to our enjoyment of the garden, so they will stay, although the fate of that sweet gum was debatable while I was fighting with its roots.
We got both strawberry beds turned and raked down. Wednesday Jo will haul a little manure and plant the new strawberries. We may get a few berries this year, but it will be next year before they really start producing fruit.
The worst thing about the whole project was that even after all that time and work, I didn't get to check an item off my "To Do" list. Dealing with the strawberry beds hadn't even been added to my list yet. Oh, well. It's done.
No Strawberries This Year
Our "garden bench" for the past several years has been an old sawhorse. It's been a long time since we could actually sit on our bench without fear on ending up with our butts on the ground, but the old sawhorse has still been useful for leaning our tools against and sitting our gardening beverages of choice upon, but now, even resting such a light load on the sawhorse is risky. It's time for a replacement and we're going to use a truck toolbox that's been sitting in
the old truck rusting and providing a dry home for many generations of red wasps. Sure, it looks tacky, but it ought to be useful. We can sit on it, sit our drinks and such on it, lean our tools against it and even store some small garden tools inside -- once I remove the wasps, that is. The old sawhorse is headed for the brush pile.
to eat something and thinks the plastic bag may contain something edible instead of the strawberry transplants that it actually holds. (Click on the photo of Bucket to enlarge it and you'll see that there's no doubt that eating is what she has on her mind.)
Since our second hot water heater has been doing a much better job of holding water than our first unit did, I decided to press my luck and try to get us a little bit hotter water. The thermostats were set to their lowest setting which was supposed to be 120º. I cranked them up a couple of notches to 140º, but that proved to be too hot. I don't want to scald anyone, so I backed the thermostats back down to the 130º range. We'll see how that goes before I flange everything back up and re-install the insulation blanket.
held on the University of Central Arkansas campus in Conway. Both Jo and I planned to attend the meeting, but the day turned out unseasonably warm, too warm to leave Rusty and Bucket closed up in the van. I volunteered to stay with the dogs so Jo could attend the meeting. Remaining outside in the fresh air and sunshine, roaming the campus, taking photos, tending to the dogs and napping instead of being cooped up in a windowless room listening to other folks talk for six hours was quite a sacrifice on my part, but one of us had to do it. (Oh, please, don't throw me in the brier patch.) Besides, as Guild president, Jo had to preside over the meeting.
Tuesday Jo planted surprise lilies out by the fire hydrant. We had two containers of surprise lily bulbs that Jo dug up when our water line was dug. Some were in a large terra cotta pot. Others were in a short plastic tote. Both groups were beginning to grow despite their ill treatment since being dug up. Neither have received any water since – when was it that our water line was laid – last August? 
I also wonder what mechanism the bulbs use to know when to start growing? It cannot be day length because the group in the root cellar weren't exposed to sunlight. I reckon temperature can play a role, but the two groups experienced some considerably different temperatures. Yet, both groups began sending up shoots about the same time as those that have been outside in the ground all winter. Amazing!
The piece of wood stuck in the end of the hose works as an orifice. If I let the water run through the hose unrestricted, it quickly drains the ditch and loses the siphon. Then, because water is still seeping into the ditch, it refills. I've got a couple of short sections of dowel rod with different size holes drilled in them that I use to try and keep the water outflow only slightly ahead of the water inflow. 
