# New Strawberry bed



## SolarAndWood (May 9, 2011)

Last Mother's Day, we were worried that the sleet and snow on the freshly blossomed strawberries was going to be an issue.  It proved to be a non-issue and we hauled in almost 40 gallons of strawberries last year.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/55718/

This Mother's Day, the main concern was the bed running out of control.  It took removing about 5 feet of the sprawl to fully plant the next bed.  95 ft of thinning to go.  I think we would call it a weed if it didn't produce fruit and make nice ground cover.


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## thewoodlands (May 9, 2011)

Looks great Solar, I think some of the herd would like those.




Zap


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## SolarAndWood (May 9, 2011)

They rammed the fence pretty good and got in during the rut during the Fall.  But, we don't see them as much and they don't seem to be as aggressive during the month these are cranking out the fruit.


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## lukem (May 9, 2011)

The deer destroyed my strawberries last year.  I thought they were completely wiped out, but I got a few plants this spring.  Still in pretty rough shape though.  I hate deer.


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## Adios Pantalones (May 9, 2011)

They sure take over


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## begreen (May 9, 2011)

40 gallons of strawberries = ?

40g strawbs = about 100 qts of jam
40g strawbs = a lot of strawberry wine
40g strawbs = the runs  %-P 

I would pull out half and put in a couple rows of autumn bliss raspberries.


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## woodchip (May 9, 2011)

I didn't know you got Autumn Bliss raspberries over there, they are one of my favourites!

With that number of strawberries, I can imagine a lot of jam being made in our house. 

We have 4 double rows of 20 feet, and will put some mini polytunnels over them in a couple of weeks just to keep the blackbirds off. 

This was last year, when we did a trial to see if polythene tunnels were better than glass frames. The polythene won hands down, on cost and productivity


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## begreen (May 9, 2011)

Most fruit does well here. It's a berry friendly climate, but in cold years like the last and this year you do better with later bloomers in order to get good polination. We tent with netting to keep the birds out of the strawberries. Our are Tri-Stars, so they yield constantly from July to October.


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## SolarAndWood (May 9, 2011)

I'm not sure its possible to have too many strawberries.  We do our share of raspberries as well.  

Woodchip, that is a pretty serious operation.  Our system is pretty low-tech at this point:  try to not compact the seed beds, add water, keep deer out, add compost, mulch as much as possible to minimize weeding.


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## bogydave (May 9, 2011)

WOW
Great pictures.
That's allot of berries!


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## begreen (May 9, 2011)

SolarAndWood said:
			
		

> I'm not sure its possible to have too many strawberries.  We do our share of raspberries as well.
> 
> Woodchip, that is a pretty serious operation.  Our system is pretty low-tech at this point:  try to not compact the seed beds, add water, keep deer out, add compost, mulch as much as possible to minimize weeding.



Do you usually let the asparagus get so tall? Asking because this is our first year that they are showing up for us.


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## SolarAndWood (May 9, 2011)

We are not experts as we are pretty early in the game as well.  This is only year 2.  Cornell says they can get 5 to 9 feet?


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## SolarAndWood (May 9, 2011)

bogydave said:
			
		

> WOW
> Great pictures.
> That's allot of berries!



Thanks Dave.  Fresh berries make lots of friends.  My wife's wine, jam and topping is pretty pleasant as well.


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## ChrisN (May 9, 2011)

We cut our asparagus between 9" and 12".  Seems to get kind of woody if ut gets much taller than that.


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## SolarAndWood (May 9, 2011)

Are you supposed to cut them at all when they are establishing themselves?


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## ChrisN (May 10, 2011)

SolarAndWood said:
			
		

> Are you supposed to cut them at all when they are establishing themselves?



The first year after we planted we didn't touch them at all, just let them grow and go to seed.  The second year we harvested lightly for about a month, then let them go to seed.  This is our third year.  We initially planted about 20 rootballs and they are all producing between 4 and 6 spears at any given time.  It takes maybe a week for the spear to grow to harvestable height from the time it pokes through the ground.  We are getting about 4 to 6 spears daily now.


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## begreen (May 10, 2011)

SolarAndWood said:
			
		

> Are you supposed to cut them at all when they are establishing themselves?



I just read up and the answer I found was yes. Cutting them forces the crown to form more buds which will lead to larger yields in later years. Your plants look much better established than ours, perhaps because of warmer soil? The article says to keep cutting them for up to a few weeks this year, then eventually you can get up to 6 weeks of picking out of the bed. 

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1603.html

And now I get another university saying no:
http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/h204asparagus.html

After reading several opinions, I would judge it by the thickness of the spears. If they are all spindly like ours are, let them grow. But if a lot are finger thickness, you may be able to get a harvest for a week this year and more next year.


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## SolarAndWood (May 10, 2011)

I read that as well.  My wife is pretty adamant about the 2 year thing.  I'll have to do a little more research.

Big ones are 1/2" to 3/4" at the base and maybe 1/3 of the row is in that range.


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## woodchip (May 10, 2011)

Best thing with asparagus is get out there first thing and find a spear about 6-7" tall, cut it, and eat it raw there and then. 
You won't beat the taste, and no food miles  ;-) 

We do like growing strawberries, we grow Cambridge favourite here, an old heritage variety which is really tasty


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## begreen (May 10, 2011)

SolarAndWood said:
			
		

> I read that as well.  My wife is pretty adamant about the 2 year thing.  I'll have to do a little more research.
> 
> Big ones are 1/2" to 3/4" at the base and maybe 1/3 of the row is in that range.



They be ready at that size. You may have gotten 2 year old root stock. Ours were one year old.


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## Adios Pantalones (May 10, 2011)

Just started picking asparagus.  I have a purple variety that grows super thick spears.  My wife says they're intimidating.

We had thicker ones than these.  This is the large sized fluff for comparison.


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## Jags (May 10, 2011)

Adios Pantalones said:
			
		

> Just started picking asparagus.  I have a purple variety that grows super thick spears.  My wife says they're intimidating.



That looks like the wild stuff we have around these parts.  Some can get a base diameter that is pretty impressive.  I don't have any domestic stuff planted, it just gives me another reason to go walking around.

EDIT: had my first batch of the season for supper last night ...mmmmmm... Slapped them to a hot grill for a touch of char and then topped with good olive oil and a tiny pinch of sea salt.


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## Adios Pantalones (May 10, 2011)

Strangely, the larger the spears, the more tender they are.  I think the outer part has fibers in it, and when they get big they have relatively smaller amount of fiber to middle ratio.


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## btuser (May 10, 2011)

I've got one measly strawberry pot that's doing a whole lot of nothing right now.    Now I'm depressed.


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## SolarAndWood (May 11, 2011)

We harvested the asparagus this morning and had a bunch for dinner tonight...mmmm mmmm is right.  Hopefully, this was the right year to start harvesting.  I planted the face of the retaining walls tonight with strawberries after hoeing the morning glory layer off.  Hopefully, the strawberries will win the war.


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## Adios Pantalones (May 11, 2011)

btuser- don't expect too much for a few mowe weeks.  I have a couple plants with buds on them, but they are a weird variety


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## SolarAndWood (May 11, 2011)

Agreed, we just started getting buds last week.

Finished the face of the retaining wall this morning.  Next project is taming the raspberries.  Hopefully it will be warm enough to get the tomatoes, peppers and cukes in this weekend.


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## woodchip (May 11, 2011)

SolarAndWood said:
			
		

> We harvested the asparagus this morning and had a bunch for dinner tonight...mmmm mmmm is right.  Hopefully, this was the right year to start harvesting.




mmmmmmmmm = right year to start harvesting. 

Just don't take too many, and they'll reward you for years and years


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## Adios Pantalones (May 11, 2011)

I stop picking too early every year.  I think they're getting spindly, I stop, then they go back at it full bore.


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## Flatbedford (May 11, 2011)

AP, Can you share your asparagus with fluff recipe?


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## Adios Pantalones (May 11, 2011)

LOL- it's there only for scale.  I grabbed something that I thought everyone would relate to, then realized that Fluff is more common here in New England.


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## Flatbedford (May 11, 2011)

Nothing better than a dollop of fluff in your hot coco.


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## Delta-T (May 11, 2011)

Flatbedford said:
			
		

> Nothing better than a dollop of fluff in your hot coco.



except maybe a double shot of peppermint schnapps.....maybe.


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## Flatbedford (May 11, 2011)

Funny thing is that my wife always made hot coco for my son after snow shoveling. I always wanted a beer.


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## Delta-T (May 11, 2011)

Flatbedford said:
			
		

> Funny thing is that my wife always made hot coco for my son after snow shoveling. I always wanted a beer.



I'm not so sure that fluff works the same in beer...I await some feedback on this from any of the beer drinkers in the house.


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## Adios Pantalones (May 11, 2011)

By the time I'm done snowblowing/shoveling, I'm normally way too hot for cocoa.  The outside temp really doesn't matter at that point.


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## Flatbedford (May 11, 2011)

Adios Pantalones said:
			
		

> By the time I'm done snowblowing/shoveling, I'm normally way too hot for cocoa.  The outside temp really doesn't matter at that point.



Yup. Beer time.


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## SolarAndWood (May 11, 2011)

As long as we are talking about beer:

All-Grain - Strawberry Alarm Clock v3.0 (Strawberry Blonde)
Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: S-04
Yeast Starter: 1 packet
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.050
Final Gravity: 1.010
IBU: 17.1
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 4.9 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 days @ 65F
Additional Fermentation: Cold Crash 3 days
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 21 days @ 70F
Tasting Notes: Smooth light body with a tiny bit of tartness that gives the beer a crisp finish.

EDIT: This recipe won a gold medal at Pacific Brewer's Cup 2009.

I ended up with 4.8 gallons of beer in bottles after this process, although on previous batches where I had pureed the strawberries I ended up spot-on 5 gallons. So, maybe the strawberries soaked up some of the volume? I probably will try to get another .25 gallons boil volume next time to account for this.

Recipe: Strawberry Alarm Clock v3.0
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.41 gal
Estimated OG: 1.054 SG
Estimated Color: 4.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 17.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item
5.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
4.00 lb White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM)
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 15L (15.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM)
0.25 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
1.00 oz Willamette [4.80 %] (60 min)
0.50 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min)
4.00 lb Strawberries (Secondary 3.0 weeks)
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale


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## SolarAndWood (Jun 30, 2011)

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer.  Other than being overrun by morning glories and crab grass, I am very pleased with the progress of the new bed.  I didn't think the plants on the face of the wall would make it.


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## thewoodlands (Jun 30, 2011)

Solar they look great.


zap


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## bogydave (Jun 30, 2011)

WOW
Look GREAT
Raspberries too. When will there be ripe berries (both?)


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## woodchip (Jun 30, 2011)

They look excellent, we are eating our strawberries here at the moment, they always coincide with the Wimbledon tennis championships, strawberries and cream in the afternoon whilst watching Mardy Fish against Nadal! 

Sadly, that was one fish that got grilled..........  ;-)


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## SolarAndWood (Jun 30, 2011)

Thanks Zap.  

Dave, the strawberries are done, 34 gallons in total.  The raspberries started this week, current count sits at 5 gallons.  Those wooden stakes mark the blueberry bushes.  Our layout leaves a little to be desired, we are going to have to move them this Fall.

Sounds like a nice way to spend the afternoon woodchip.  Wimbledon is on a little early here for ice cream.


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## btuser (Jul 5, 2011)

How low do you cut the 2nd year raspberry canes?  I'm growing a set in between some rock and thought to myself "how the heck am I going to prune this mess?".


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## lukem (Jul 5, 2011)

SolarAndWood said:
			
		

> Thanks Zap.
> 
> Dave, the strawberries are done, 34 gallons in total.  The raspberries started this week, current count sits at 5 gallons.  Those wooden stakes mark the blueberry bushes.  Our layout leaves a little to be desired, we are going to have to move them this Fall.



Solar,

I recently put in a bed of raspberries...put in about 30 plants.  Did you put anything in for them to climb on?  Haven't decided what I'm going to do yet...either do nothing or set a couple posts and run a couple courses of wire.  They pushed off a lot of growth this year so I should have a good crop next year.

Strawberries really grow quickly.  I bought 25 plants for my dad last spring.  He thinned them out this summer and easily removed 150 plants...and probably has twice that left.  He mulched them with pine straw and I'm wondering if that's what kicked them into high gear.

We have a (one) transparent apple tree that was loaded this year.  We made about 20 gallons of applesauce and 20 pie fillings yesterday.


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## SolarAndWood (Jul 5, 2011)

btuser said:
			
		

> How low do you cut the 2nd year raspberry canes?  I'm growing a set in between some rock and thought to myself "how the heck am I going to prune this mess?".




I'd mow it down the best you can and not worry about it but I am no expert.  Here is Cornell's guide http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/fruit/homefruit/6brambles.pdf


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## SolarAndWood (Jul 5, 2011)

lukem said:
			
		

> Did you put anything in for them to climb on?  Haven't decided what I'm going to do yet...either do nothing or set a couple posts and run a couple courses of wire.  They pushed off a lot of growth this year so I should have a good crop next year.





I did but it is grossly inadequate.  I put in 4 foot pipe and then ran two courses of galvanized on it.  I am going to replace it with 8 foot t-posts.


I've had the same experience with strawberries as your dad's.  We started with 75 and I gave a few hundred away this year before tilling under the rest of the sprawl.  That was in addition to my new bed.


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## SolarAndWood (Aug 4, 2011)

It appears I am winning the war.  The runners outnumbered the morning glories that I had to pull this morning by about 3 to 1.


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