strawberries, and garden stuff

[redbird]

cattitude came back from the Belmont farmers market with two containers of strawberries, which are good even though with the current rules he couldn't choose which containers to get. We have eaten about a third of the berries so far, not counting a few that were already overripe, and will probably finish the rest while they (or most of them) are still good.

I transplanted another tomato seedling today, in the process confirming that the tomato cages I bought really aren't suited for container gardening. This involved putting the plant in one container, failing to get the tomato cage around it, and then dumping it out (gently) and putting the plant in a smaller container. Which also barely works for the tomato cage.

It started raining before I finished, and I lost track of which of the other plants I gave plant food to, but any I missed should be okay. This was the second or third rain of the afternoon, this time without thunder, so the plants all got plenty of water.

Comments

[bibliofile]

Yay strawberries! Yum.

(My fave pick-your-own farm opens next week.)

Mmmm, tomatoes in the works. And other plants.

[cjsmith]

How do tomato cages usually get around the tomatoes, whether in containers or not? Do people usually start seedlings inside them? Can the cage be opened up and wrapped around a bigger plant? It seems like one of those sailing ship in a bottle kinds of things. I've only ever done tomatoes once, in a hydroponics setup, and we didn't have cages, so I've always sort of wondered.

[redbird]

I think what people usually do is transplant tomato seedlings/small plants from the garden center, and then put the cage around them. I have seen them around a tomato plant in a container, but I don't remember whether it was a larger cage, or if the container was large enough to hold the tomato cage stably.

This year's gardening has been less planned/organized than I expected when I asked the landlord, last year, for his okay to grow plants in containers. I was expecting to shop in person, and possibly get a Lyft to take me and my purchases home. Ah, well.

[cjsmith]

Ahh, so the cage goes around them when they're still pretty little? Thanks! That makes sense.

I'm now wishing I'd done a lot more planning, too. Growing season here is more fluid, if I like, so maybe I can start things even this late.

[otter]

I'm full of anticipation about the berries in my garden. The bunny-in-residence seems to have nibbled many of the strawberry plants, but there will be a few that get berries. I'm most excited about the raspberries, though.

[cmcmck]

Ah! Subscribing has worked! :o)

The local strawberries are beginning to appear now.

We're based in Shropshire in the UK- over by the Welsh border- good fruit territory!