Cherokee wax beans and strawberries

This is the first year I've planted Cherokee wax beans. Wax beans are basically a yellow green bean. I always liked to switch it up on my late husband, and he didn't mind at all.  

The seeds have finally sprouted, and just that fast some critter has had a nibble. This will not do. Earlier this morning I put a row cover over the raised bed in the hope it will do the job and discourage whomever visited from a repeat. I won't get enough of a harvest to can beans, but I do want enough for several meals when they're fresh. 

Of course, my Henry 001 is also "discouragement." I just hate to bury the bodies. 

In better news, the strawberries I planted in the Greenstalk are doing fantastic! I hope to get a large enough harvest to enjoy some fresh and to share with my cousins. I also need to look for a muffin recipe that uses almond flour so I can make a batch of strawberry muffins. I think I can modify the recipe I love by simply adding a third egg. It's worth a try.

There's quite a few days to go before I harvest anything but lettuce. I have four plants of a variety that is Butter [something] and it's pretty good. My trip around the garden this morning showed it's time to harvest some, so it looks like a salad will be on the menu today. I've nibbled at the Swiss Chard and it's too bad none of that is ready to add to the salad. 

I'm excited about the strawberries, though. This is as close to actually successfully growing them as I've gotten. My grandfather had a huge patch, but I'll never match him. But I can see myself expanding to the older Greenstalk that is beside the patio, or even purchasing a third one. We'll have to see how it goes. 

That sums gardening up in one sentence: we'll have to see how it goes.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, KC Kendricks, gardening, strawberries, Greenstalk, animal control, rural living, country lifestyle, home food preservation, Swiss Chard, butter lettuce

Damn the deer!!

My area has a big white-tailed deer problem. No joke. When I was a girl, we rarely saw a deer. Now you can't avoid them. I've had as many as seventeen in a group grazing in my front yard. I think DNR needs to schedule a cull because these animals are starving and inbreeding. It's evident in the shrinking size of the animals. 

It takes some serious counter-measures to thwart these creatures. Last spring I got eight strawberry plants from a local nursery and last fall a deer ate them to the ground. I covered the bed for the winter with leaves anyway. Plants are amazing and this spring I found at least thirty runners under the leaves. They've been transplanted into a second Greenstalk. The original eight plants are also doing well. I won't get much of a strawberry harvest this June, but I'll get a few to nibble on while I'm in the garden area. 

I've read that deer have very poor depth perception. To take advantage of that, I'm placing electric fence poles and T-posts outside the barricades. I also ordered a new 10x12 greenhouse and I plan to situate the frame from the old greenhouse as a barrier. My garden will be smaller this year since I'm on my own, but even if it was huge, I don't want to feed the deer.

I lost countless daylilies to the deer over the years. I had them in strips along the edge of the yard and they are all gone now. It's the same for the hosta. The deer even come up to the front porch and eat the rosebushes. 

The deer are a major problem. I may need to learn to cook venison. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, white-tailed deer, strawberries, Greenstalk, gardening, venison, rural living, country lifestyle, counter-measures, a writer's life

The 2024 garden - ready, set, go!

The clock is ticking. One by one, it's time to plant the 2024 garden. The cabbage is already in and the strawberries are next, maybe even today if our fifty percent chance of showers proves to be no showers. 

All the buckets and grow bags have been filled with amended soil. It was a huge job, but worth it. Next year, I won't need to dump each of them and remix. I'll need to add a few nutrients to each container and use that nice auger bit Ron got me to loosen the soil and mix in the feed. 

Refilling all the containers was hard work. I got a scoop of garden mix soil from the local nursery to refresh the dirt and got to work. I worked across several days so I didn't wear myself out and it was time well spent. I'm determined to pace myself. Ron's passing has left me with a lot of hours to fill. I don't need to hurry through my tasks so that I can return to being his caregiver. I didn't realize how many hours a day I spent caring for him, not that I regret or resent any of them. 

I'm eager to get a plant in each container, but I must have patience. I must wait on the weather. Always before, Ron was my "weatherman," advising me of frost warnings and overnight low temps, and the possibility of afternoon storms. Now I have to remember to check the weather apps every day. Taking a daily screenshot is easier than opening the app multiple times a day, at least for me. 

I will miss Ron's company as I spend time in my little garden. He would pick a sunny spot and talk to me while I worked. When I finished, I'd sit in my garden chair and we'd talk of idle things while sharing memories or wistful thoughts. Deuce is good company, but he's a quiet sort. 

I suspect this next year will be full of bittersweet moments. I just hope they don't overwhelm me and make 2024 my last garden.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, weather apps, country lifestyle, rural living, bittersweet, black Lab dog, frost warnings, life after loss, container gardening, cabbage, strawberries

Dehydrating frozen strawberries

Cheesecake! Yum! Yum! 

We're hosting the Cousin's Lunch this coming Saturday, and I thought I might make a cheesecake. It's that or an apple crisp. Maybe both. The future is unwritten and who knows where the spirit may lead?  Or maybe dessert will be a good, old-fashioned apple cobbler and I'll keep the cheesecake for us. 

Last winter we ordered two dozen strawberry plants from Burpees, a very well-known company. The plants arrived a little late for planting in my area (strike one), and because of that, only nine of the plants lived. That's not a good margin of success. I doubt I'll order roots from Burpees again. A local nursery seems a much better option if I go for blackberries. 

Several of the stronger plants did produce a berry or two which was enough to pick and eat on the spot but nothing more. Those stronger plants have also sent out runners and the sets seem to be taking hold. The plan is to move them into the greenhouse this winter since they are in containers and not yet the ground. I hope to get a harvest in 2022. 

With cheesecake on my mind, I pulled a bag of sliced strawberries out of the freezer and spread them out on the dehydrator trays. Once they've dried to a light crisp, I'll put them in the coffee grinder and turn them into a powder to add to the cheesecake batter. It will only take a tablespoon or three of powder to intensify the strawberry flavor. Powders are a great way to take the flavor to the next level. Beyond that, green powders can add nutrition to soups and other dishes. Himself hates spinach but doesn't balk at a tablespoon of spinach powder added to some dishes. The trick is to only add to the point where it may become detectable and stop. 

Another perk of dehydrating strawberries is that the house will smell of delicious strawberries for several days. The man of the manor is correct in one thing. Spinach doesn't add a thing to the air. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor (The Hideaway)

Strawberries 101

 

And so, she decided to grow strawberries...

My grandfather had an excellent traditional strawberry patch. Long rows, evenly spaced, stretched across the hillside. If memory serves, he had five rows and practiced a rotation to keep his plants young and healthy. For example, row one would be an empty row. When the other four rows sent out runners, he'd snip the best set and plant them in row one. Then at the end of the producing season, he'd dig out row two. The next year, he'd replant row two with new sets. It worked wonderfully. For decades, we all had an abundance of fresh strawberries every year. 

Fast forward to 2020 and my own aspirations to grow strawberries. It won't be on such a grand scale, that's for sure. Pop put in a lot of work to keep his berry patch going. I don't need to supply strawberries to five households plus sell to the neighborhood. I want enough to make a batch or two of jelly and perhaps freeze a few quarts to make ice cream throughout the next year. Make a batch of strawberry cordial. Small things. 

For us, right now, container gardening is our best option. I've purchased grow bags, and yes, they have one made for strawberries. Check.

Where to place the bag? In a location that gets six to eight hours of sun daily. Check.

Soil requirements. Strawberries need loose, well-draining soil. The plan is to add some vermiculite to a bag of garden soil, and they'll be in a grow bag that drains well. Check.

Feed the plants something with potassium in it. I use Miracle-Gro. Check.

Should I treat the container-grown plants as annuals or perennials? I'd like to see if they'll winter over in the bags so they'll need to go to the greenhouse in the fall. 

What variety did I choose? AC Wendy from Burpees. We'll see how these do. The plan is to plant in this first set of grow bags with the purchased bare-root plants. If they live and do well, I'll get a second set of bags to plant the sets. 

Will I be the gardener my grandfather was? Nope. It'll never happen. But I do hope to enjoy fresh strawberries free of pesticides again. Trust me - homegrown berries are a lot sweeter. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor