Strawberries and first fruits.

Howdy,

It's time for strawberries here in southeast Texas.  I couldn't wait for perfect ripeness and we picked a few from our strawberry patch.  They look and taste great!

This is our 6' by 6' patch that we planted last year.  Nice and full compared to last year when we planted it.  I picked all the flowers which forced it to send out runners instead of fruits.

 

Here's our first fruits.   Ready for breakfast.

Unfortunately this is not near enough for jams so this patch is just for fresh fruits.  Time for a little pick your own at 2 bucks a pound.  So, off to Frobergs we go!  This is a pick your own and farmers market south of Houston. 

20 acres to pick.

One happy pickin wife. 

 

20 pounds of berries!

 

One that didn't make it to the jam pot.

 

 My batch to cut up.

Sallie Mae on guard should any berries try to make a run for it.  Sorry baby but that just ain't going to happen.

These babies are ripe and so sweet!

 

In ground or raised bed?

To be or not to be, that is the question.  OK the real question is in ground garden beds or raised beds.  Which is better?  It depends on you and the conditions where you live.

Both of these pictures are of my garden.  With the addition of the proper soil amendments my garden grew great in ground.  After Hurricane Ike left me with plenty of wood to work with I made raised beds out of it.  It took some effort to build (not much) and effort to haul garden soil (much more), but my garden is much more contained.  This old back of mine finds it lots easier to weed and harvest too.  These beds can be made out of a variety of materials.  These beds are made out of three inch by six foot cedar fencing.  This is a good rot resistant material and easy to work with.  You can also use cypress and TREX a plastic decking material.  These beds are very easy to work with a small garden cultivator.
  

The in ground garden is very easy to work with a small cultivator or a larger tiller too if you have a large plot.  I borrowed a large tiller to break the ground and till in the soil amendments initially.  No woodworking (minimal) skills are needed and you can easily change your layout year to year or season to season if you are blessed with multiple growing times like here in SE Texas.  About the only real problem with in ground growing is if you have really rocky, hard, clay, or other bad soil. 

As long as you have decent soil to work with its really not a big deal.  If you are new to gardening start out in ground like I did.  As you expand and learn more upgrade to a better layout and build more permanent raised beds.  You can buy your materials cheaper in the off season and pre-assemble your beds if they are not to big.  When the next season hits you are ready to go.

A couple of weeks later.

Howdy all,

What a difference a couple of weeks make.  All growing great!  We mulched

all the beds to keep down weeds and retain moisture.  Deer/bird netting was

put up to protect the fruits from the dang birds.  I saw a real nice strawberry 

ready for picking.  I came back 20 minuets later after I finished watering and

a bird had gotten it already.  Never a cat around when you need.  Oh yea I

know when that cats around.  Nighttime digging holes in the garden.  I have

a trap for it set tonight.  Here kitty.

Ken

Roma's and blackberries looking good.

Over the first ring.

Blackberries poofing out.

hundreds on pretty flowers.

All leaves and flowers.  No twigs now.

Deer netting to keep the birds at bay

 

 

 

lots of flowers and berries here too.

 lori putting on the bird netting.  Last week a bird got a ripe berry while I was watering.  NO MORE!

 It all looks so good.

It's spring time in Southeast Texas

Hey all,
Welcome to my new blog, Garden for Your Life! This site will be mostly about my garden, but you can build one just like it in your back yard too. It can be bigger or smaller, just get out and do it. You can do it for fun. Your can do it for your health. You can do it for fresh food in these troubled times. The point it to get out and do it for whatever reason that you need.

Over time I will cover topics like canning and preserving your harvest, soil and beds, bugs, what to plant and when, and much more.

I've been working on this garden on mine and improving on it for over five years now. I will continue doing that for many more. You can too, just get out and do it.

Without further ado here's some pic's of this years garden.   These were planted at the end of February!

Ken

Here's my new blue berry bed.  I have three rabbit eye blue berries

My newest beds from last year.

Ready on the left.

Ready on the right!

All ready to plant.

Two beds of Roma tomatoes, 6 each.  One bed of blackberries from last year.

 

Farthest back to front.  Red beans, black beans, yellow and orange bell peppers, green peppers.  Small beds turnips and beets, red and white radishes, two types of carrots, and peppers for salsa!

 

Farthest, broccoli, red and yellow onions,  Sweet yellow banana peppers. Two cherry tomatoes and two beefsteaks.

New garlic.

Last falls garlic

Last years strawberries!

Growing and blooming.