My neighbor, N, just came back from a trip to her mother's in Maine. Her mom worked as a seasonal employee at one of the better known seed companies for the past 2 years. As a result, N came home with lots of neat seeds. I just started some rhubarb plants for us both. It will be interesting to see how they do. I haven't had the best luck with rhubarb. It's odd, because most people can't kill it and I can't get it to survive transplanting. Maybe from seed I'll have better luck. I think it would be absolutely wonderful to have a strawberry and rhubarb bed. They go so well together in dessert, why not in the garden.
The kids are anxiously awaiting all the strawberries. Hopefully, I'll get some this year. They are meant to be harvested all year, and are said to fruit the first year. That would be wonderful.
Tomorrow, I'm hoping to get the potatoes in the ground and possibly some flower seeds. There is so much going on here it is amazing and quite exciting.
8 comments:
I can transplant rhubarb, but can't get it to grow! Mine are tiny little things while everyone else is cutting theirs for eating. Hope you'll have good luck with your strawberry-rhubarb bed!
The rhubarb is over by the cows. It's probably been there just short of forever. It's forgiving us for my Mother's butchering of it last year but it's coming up slowly.
I used to have about 200 strawberry plants but they are only good for about 3 years before they have to be transplanted. Last year I was just going to plant a corner (25 plants) and they are all gone. 1 - too much water (wet summer) and 2 - no mulch. Check you have the right kind at your local farm supply and mulch them. The roots are too close to the surface otherwise.
Getting more is on next weeks list, including mulch. Tomorrow's job is to spread the manure pile dh dumped on the edge of the garden. Need to get my potatoes and onions in next week. Early, very early, but it's time.
Lise, mine kept dying. Since they were from garden centers, it cost me a bit of money. These will be planted in better soil, so I'm crossing my fingers.
Farmwife, it seems once it's established, you can't kill it. I just can't get it established. I'm hoping that the strawberry plants will keep sending out runners that I can transplant into perpetuity. We'll see if that really happens.
I used to grow sparkle strawberries. I hope to grow them again sometime as they are really delicious. They are a late June bearer so they would give me strawberries for a couple of weeks before my raspberries started. It was great timing. I think next time I plant I want sparkle and an everbearer though so I can get berries throughout the summer.
I bought my rhubarb from noursefarms.com. Everything I've ordered from them has been in wonderful shape when it arrived.
I don't recall which varieties I ordered, maybe that makes a difference.
Lisa, I believe you aren't supposed to harvest from it for the first couple of years, so the plants get established.
Daphne, I had thought I ordered an everbearing variety called Seascape. One of many mistakes I've made this year.
Karen Anne, I ordered my blueberry bushes from Nourse last year. They are doing well despite sitting in water for the past month.
My blueberry bush seems to have survived sitting in water. Only one of the two young lilacs made it though. I'm leaving the other one in for awhile just in case.
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