My spring seeded spinach and lettuces are almost ready to steal some leaves from. On March 13th I seeded indoors under lights, Olympia Spinach from Pacific Northwest Seeds and Encore Lettuce Mix from Johnny’s. I transplanted them into the garden on April 14th and now they’re looking almost ready.
Meanwhile my fall planted (last year) spinach is finishing in the greenhouse with my third and final harvest now. That was seeded last August 1st in pots and transplanted into the finished pea bed a few weeks later. August is a hot month and direct seeding doesn’t always work that well so using small pots in some shade is an advantage.
Last fall when I rolled the greenhouse to its next rotation spot, the spinach and lettuces were waiting for it to extend the season. The lettuce doesn’t survive the winter, but the spinach does. I did cover it with leaves for a week during our only cold snap. It’s been bearing nicely this spring.
The Strawberries are starting to bloom now. They were transplanted into their new bed last August 13th -- 44 Shuksan plants in 50 square feet. (named after the 85,000 foot peak near Mount Baker in NW Washington.) They were top dressed with 2 lbs of Alfalfa Meal on March 15th and have really taken off.
Too bad they can’t stay
to produce a second year. I suffer from
Strawberry Root Weevil and must start new plants and move them to a different spot
in the garden each year to beat the pests.
But we’re hoping for maybe 25 lbs this year. We’ll see, I’m getting my Lovely Wife, who
inherited the berry picking gene, to weigh them this time.
Happy Gardening.
Gorgeous looking plants! Do you surround each strawberry plant with black plastic? I’m having issues with slugs and pill bugs eating my fruit.
ReplyDeleteSure enough. I lay strips of that woven polypropylene landscape fabric when planting my strawberries https://fraservalleyvegetablegardener.blogspot.com/2020/08/strawberry-planting.html Slugs -- maybe try a saucer of beer overnight.
ReplyDelete