Garden Diaries, 2020

[Killerbunny]

Thanks @LongCrow always more to learn. This will come in very useful for our raised bed potatoes next year!

[Killerbunny]

@Farrier1987 are we supposed to cover the strawberry plants with straw or something before the winter???? They have rooted and grown very well.

[Farrier1987]

I dont, but probably because I am lazy. I think yes, straw, doesnt let the frost go down as deep and you uncover later in the spring so they thaw and warm and bloom faster.

[LongCrow]

I think it depends more on if you have them in a windswept area or where they get snow cover. You want to protect the bud system in the root zone from super cold dry wind. I put a light coat of straw to encourage the snow to stick. Remember to remove the straw in the early spring or it can cause more fungus on the berries, especially on a wet season.

[Killerbunny]

We get a LOT of wind so protction would be good!

[Gwynbleidd]

I think it depends more on if you have them in a windswept area or where they get snow cover. You want to protect the bud system in the root zone from super cold dry wind. I put a light coat of straw to encourage the snow to stick. Remember to remove the straw in the early spring or it can cause more fungus on the berries, especially on a wet season.

When is the best time to cover it before the winter? Does it depend on time or snow level?

[labradors]

I don't think you'd have to cover strawberries for the winter in Vegas . I didn't bother to cover mine in Ontario last winter and they all survived and did very well. Too bad that we didn't get a single strawberry off them this year as the mice and chippies got the lot .

Linda

[TomK]

I don't think you'd have to cover strawberries for the winter in Vegas . I didn't bother to cover mine in Ontario last winter and they all survived and did very well. Too bad that we didn't get a single strawberry off them this year as the mice and chippies got the lot .

Linda

Hi Linda...same here...i set 10 everbearing strawberry plants this year...i was busy restructuring the garden into 90% raised beds so my time was at a premium...the beds with carrots, beets, lettuces, herbs etc were sown and as soon as they sprouted, the rabbit(s) found them...so resewn immediately...and I set about making screen covers which, btw, worked really well...the strawberry plants took well and i could see berries forming...a very promising scenario...so I set on making/building the fence...this was a fair bit of work...the idea was to keep the deer out by arranging the raised beds in an irregular pattern and to keep the rabbits out with lower half welded wire fencing...both worked but there is no way to keep squirrels and chipmunks out...i never got around to constructing the cover for the strawberries and have only had one whole complete berry all summer...the upside is that the plants did well and shot out a fair number of runners so more plants for next year...and I will definitely build a hinged cover for the bed they will be in...there is just too much to build this year...and btw, I am picking raspberries at the moment....lol

[labradors]

Hey Tom, we had hungry rabbits this year too! They made short work of the little beet seedlings that I had been nurturing inside the house for so long, and they also polished off my fall-sown peas .

As for the strawberries, the reason I was given them in the first place is that a friend had made a large wire contraption to keep the chippies out of her strawberry bed. The only problem being that neither she, nor her teenaged kids felt like lifting the heavy thing off (and it took two people) when they wanted to pick them, so they simply didn't bother! I think a box affair for the bed, with an old window screen (properly secured) would be a good idea, although I don't have access to any screens .

I noticed that the wild raspberries are out now!

Linda

[KimChick]

I have been munching on 4-5 raspberries a day - the large kind!
Aside from the 3 sides of electric fence around the vegetable garden, I think the large patch of basil by the non-electrified front gate has kept out the deer. And none of my perennials were munched on by deer either - perhaps too many aromatic plants/herbs nearby. But a bunny ate the buds off a new Asiatic lily; so, I will have to wait until the Spring to see it bloom.