Waking Up Your Strawberry Bed in Early Spring
March strawberry beds look rough, but they’re usually fine. Here’s how to clean them up, feed them right, and get out of the way before June fruit sets in.
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perserve | puree | recipe | strawberries
How to make strawberries last longer
width=”550″ height=”309″ /> My youngest (2 years old) decided to venture out and too a little strawberry picking this weekend. It took her a little while (probably a solid pound of berries) to figure out we were supposed to be picking berries and putting them into our flat and not her mouth. Thirty minutes later and $11.50 paid I left with my full flat (11.5 pounds of berries) The…
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Growing Fruits in Small Spaces
alt=”Strawberries” src=”https://i0.wp.com/www.cheapvegetablegardener.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Strawberries.png?resize=554%2C369″ width=”554″ height=”369″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/www.cheapvegetablegardener.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Strawberries.png?w=615&ssl=1 615w, https://i0.wp.com/www.cheapvegetablegardener.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Strawberries.png?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w” sizes=”auto, (max-width: 554px) 100vw, 554px” /> Are you planning a garden this year? If so, you are in good company. Over 50 million American households will be growing some or all of their own fruits, vegetables, herbs, or berries. Plant nurseries, garden centers, farm supply and home improvement centers have all noticed an uptick on sales of seeds, plants, seedlings, Fruit…
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Picking strawberries and raspberries
width=”549″ height=”412″ /> I like this time of year when I can quit my second job to support my kids strawberry and raspberry habits. At $5-6 for a half pint at some times throughout the year can be a great cost savings to pick these for practically free year after year. My oldest was previously the biggest consumer but now out youngest (now 16 months) is taking in her…
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Growing peppers in a Topsy Turvy strawberry planter
I made a little discovery last year and that is that peppers really don’t need a lot of room to grow, require soil a little warmer than it normally gets around here, and do not mind getting a little dry between watering. This seems like great characteristics to grow peppers in vertical containers. With this in mind at the end of last year I picked up a couple of…
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blackberries | peach | raspberries | strawberries | summer
Most profitable fruits to grow in your home garden
I previously did some analysis on the profitability of vegetables in your garden and there have been requests as well as my own curiosity of how fruits would stack up against fruit trees/bushes. To keep things simple I made the assumption of fruit trees/bushes are fully mature with maximum yields. So please take into account that you will see some variance throughout the years. I have also used the…
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Strawberry picking Robots
Well this is not the first time we have seen robots harvesting food and probably not the last but a team in Japan has created a robot that selectively picks strawberries that are at least 80% red. Though this might be good enough for the average consumer at the grocery store, I would personally insist on closer to 95% and hold off until they are a slightly darker red…
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Getting some great deals on gardening supplies
With stores making way for Halloween and Christmas decorations, now is the perfect time to find some great closeout deals at your local grocery store or garden center. I had meant to imitate the Topsy Turvy planters above, but at 60-70% off I was not even cheap enough to pass up on these deals for the Topsy Turvy Strawberry Planter (picked up two at $1.99 each) and the Topsy…
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Making homemade strawberry syrup
Though not the best summer for tomatoes, our mild summer has been great for strawberries. Until recently I was picking about a pint a day from our modest “strawberry patch” Many became a quick snack, smoothies, and others got frozen for consumption this summer. This morning the kids wanted something special for breakfast so decided on making some homemade strawberry syrup. Homemade Strawberry Syrup Ingredients: 2 cups sliced…
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Why are strawberries called strawberries?
The common theory is that the origin of the word “strawberry” is based on the practice growing the plants with a layer of straw mulch to help retain moisture, deter pests, and keep the berries cleaner for picking. There is also a thought that they were simply packaged in straw when being brought to market. There is one problem with this theory which in this article from Snopes sums…
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How to freeze strawberries
One thing I realized halfway through the winter was that I did not nearly save enough berries to make it through. With local strawberries showing up in my garden and in the farmers market this seemed like a perfect time to get an early start this year. Freezing strawberries is much like freezing other berries strawberries are just as easy with just a few simple steps: 1. Quickly wash…
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More Fun with Food Dehydrator
I decided to be adventurous with the food dehydrator and grabbed some stuff from the refrigerator to make some nice nutritional snacks. I started with some strawberries, the process is very simple, take some strawberries slice about 1/4 inch thick and place on the tray. Next I moved on to apples which I soaked in a solution of lemon juice (about 1/4 cup) with 1 cup of water. To…
