Author: admin

While not as bad as it is in other places, it’s damn cold here in paradise (again). My well laid plans to reinforce the soil in my garden are on temporary hold and it will be Thursday afternoon before the soil will be workable. I’ve got seven 4 X 12 raised beds earmarked for strawberries and the soil in them must be well amended before the first sets go in; there will be no way to till in additional organic material once the plantings are made.

There are three types of strawberries; Day Neutral, Ever Bearing, and June Bearing. I’ll be getting 20 of each type as this should provide me with a steady supply across the summer months. I am so looking forward to canning these into jams, preserves and jellies. I’m pretty sure that if they can be planted in the next couple of weeks they will produce fruit this year.

I also need to start my onion sets. The plan is to put these out in a series of plantings so that I’ll have fresh onion throughout the season. What doesn’t get used while fresh will be dehydrated. It’ll be the first time I dehydrated onions, but folks swear that this is a good way to put them up.

I collected a trailer load of old cow manure a couple of weeks back and have it piled up to complete the degrading/composting process. I’ll use this in the other 20 or so raised beds. My plan is to work it into the soil mid April and begin planting my main garden the first week in May.

I’ve got the hay out to the cows so they are set until Thursday. Will just kick back until then and ‘enjoy’ the cold weather.