Welcome!

Welcome to austinagrodolce … My family and I garden with more intention and enthusiasm than allocated budget or overall design plan. It shows. Wildlife populations don't seem to notice our lack of cohesive design, they just like the native plants here. It seems by growing local we've thrown out a welcome mat. Occasionally, we're surprised at who (and what) shows up.



Wednesday, June 6, 2012

The few....










The proud....









The Strawberries!
And yes, I do realize we'd need to have approximately five times as many plants going at a time in order to have enough ripe fruit to use for a recipe or whatever.  We are (read:I am) still getting caught up from the summer of No Walking.  By next year, I hope to have 3 more strawberry planters filled with productive plants, all installed inside a squirrel proof enclosure.

I'm hoping that is a little more attainable than, say, world peace, or an end to prejudice of all sorts.  Because at the moment, all three goals; world peace, the end of prejudice, and enough ripe strawberries to constitute a serving, well, all three goals are on the same "not happening this year" shelf.  Onward!

4 comments:

Tina said...

Beautiful berries. They look so yummy. I haven't tried strawberries, but blackberries grow very well here. I had a fabulous crop this year and last. Have you tried them?

Anonymous said...

Tina, I am under pressure to try blackberries it is true. I simply haven't come up with a large enough spot that would meet the criteria. How many bushes do you have going to get a good amount of berries?

Any secrets you want to share?

Tina said...

Well, I have one large vine (which sends out regular, rooted babies, that is attached to a trellis which borders my tiny veggie bed. I've also recently (spring) planted two purchased blackberry vines and some of the babies from the original along a fence my husband built which borders the back of my large perennial garden in my back yard. The only issues with blackberries ( I have Rosborough) is the thorns (there are thornless varieties) and that they send up runners. The runners will be something I have to continually yank up once they're established near the perennial bed. This May and last, I had about 3 weeks of harvest--with very little work on my part. I wasn't even very good about watering last summer. I do prune the dead/in the way stems though on a monthly basis. Oh, and I occasionally feed with Hasta Grow and fish emulsion and the plants are mulched. Try them if you have room, they're soooo good!

TexasDeb said...

Wow - thank you Tina! I'll have to check into setting some space aside and potentially prepping an area for next Spring.