This is a pot that I bought at an estate sale for about $5. These kind of terra cotta pots can go for $40-50 at the store and although I thought they might be nice to have, I did not think that they would be worth paying full price. I hope this pot will allow us to get some better strawberries this year. As you can see there are openings all around the jug and with plants in the top you can have about 15 strawberry plants planted in the openings.
I have grown strawberries successfully before but they are not easy. For one thing the plants seem to bear best in the second year. The first year the plants are putting a lot of energy into the leaves and roots and not so much into the fruit. The second year can be your big strawberry season, but then if left to their own design they form such a thicket of plants that no one plant gets the nutrients it needs to make proper berries. I have a thicket now in the flower bed and I plan to clean it up in the next few days. I will keep some of the healthier looking plants and then replant them with a nice bed of clean pine straw.
The other problems you have with strawberries are that the individual plant itself is so low that the berry often rest directly on the ground. A berry may look good from above but when you pick it the part on the ground can be almost gone. This is the reason they are called strawberries since a good loose mound of straw can hold the berry up off the ground and away from the slugs. Also being close to the ground chipmunks and other critters have easy access and the red of the ripe berry is very attractive to birds. So my pot will help with overcrowding and keeping berries from the slugs but not much help to keep the prize away from birds and chipmunks.
The pipe and astrolabe are other things I picked up a yard sale and I think add to my garden sculpture. Others have voiced the unasked-for opinion that the combination is gauche. Your vote might determine the fate of the ornaments.
RAIN BARREL ALERT: No leaks in the barrel holding water level for 48 hours.
I not sure how I feel about the pipe. Maybe when I come we can work on some kind of art work on the pipe part. Lydia will a good helper. Strawberries are always good. Looks like the garden is coming along. Looking forward to seeing it in person. Granny
ReplyDelete