What's Growing in the Garden

Carrot time
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OK, it's sweet potatoes. But they're only the size of carrots. A few big ones. We had two frosts recently so I dug up the tote raised beds. Disappointing only half a bucket. I'll try in ground next year.

At least these two beds are free and I can now transplant my strawberries. The I can harvest the 2 yr old horseradish and start new shoots in the old strawberry beds. That will free up the spinach beds that the horseradish was in for next Spring.
 
Not in the garden but they are growing. All six of my indoor white oak acorns are coming up. None of those I planted outside are showing anything yet.

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I make rings of chicken wire for small trees. As they get bigger I use standard woven wire fencing and stretch bird netting around/on top of it to keep the deer from browsing.
 
We’ve tried all of that, Tim. Sometimes we are successful, sometimes not. Heck I can’t keep them off the patio. Had a fawn born directly under our window.
 
Wow, I thought they were bad around us, that's another level of intensity.
 
My wife has some success using Deer Off (deer repellent in a spray bottle). But she has to apply it almost everyday, especially if it rains or the sprinklers reach the plants. But wire works the best around here too.
 
Human scent (urine) works for me during the rut. When my evergreens were young, deer were a problem. Drizzled a little scent around in a circle. Deer wouldn't rub on them. A couple years I forgot and the deer were back. did the same thing to my fruit trees.
 
We've been having a stretch of good weather so I've been cleaning up the garden instead of waiting till Spring. as stated, I've emptied the raised beds that I had the sweet potatoes in. Strawberries go in there now. I checked the internet and I get mixed opinions about when to transplant them. Some say Spring, others say Late Fall. Any ideas?

I'm planting them again in raised bed again. Larger ones. Right now they are 10" deep soil. So I'm not watering a lot of extra ground, can that depth be reduced say down to 6"? How deep of a bed do you need to grow strawberries?

Also, would you renovate the plants their first year?
 
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I've never grown berries in raised bed, so no help on depth.

I have planted strawberry in the fall, but much earlier in the fall so they have time to root and grow a little. My inclination would be to wait to spring, but really don't know.

Strawberries don't need renovation until after the first bearing season. Immediately after they are done bearing, I cut them off, fertilize and run a tiller over to thin them a little. For spring bearing berries definitely try to renovate by late June.
 
Is your bed right on top of the soil, or is there a barrier between the bed and soil surface? Assuming it is sitting right on top of soil, I'd think you'd be fine with a shallower bed as the native soil will still act as a water reservoir and temp buffer. Having less bed above the soil surface will result in cooler temps and better water utilization.

If you have a barrier between the bed and soil surface, I think I'd want a deeper bed to have more water reserves.
 
Started a second half gallon of fermented cranberries. Here are the fresh ones and the jar started about 3 weeks ago.

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Still doing a little garden work too. Tilled for garlic tonight. No time to plant, will get to that later in the week.
 
Luckily our freeze did not affect the two remnant (out of 40-50 that set) Japanese Persimmons that the squirrels left me! Wife likes em - me eh!
This variety is supposed to be edible (i.e. not mouth-puckering) even though not dead ripe. Traditional wisdom around here (somewhat debunked by Lil Mikey) is that persimmons are not fit to eat before a frost. Of course that is the natives, but he decided to let these hang until a frost. A little better, but not all that much difference.

*Edit* Japanese Persimmons are supposed to be not cold hardy. But this tree survived -1 degrees without dying or any die-back at all! I have a few things in the yard that are supposed to be cold hardy and they died! Figs are not supposed to live after -1 - but they did. Oh they died back to the roots and didn't have enough growing season to ripen fruits, but every one sprouted, grew, and bore fruit. Some grew to 8' tall in the one growing season!

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trc65 said:
Is your bed right on top of the soil, or is there a barrier between the bed and soil surface? Assuming it is sitting right on top of soil, I'd think you'd be fine with a shallower bed as the native soil will still act as a water reservoir and temp buffer. Having less bed above the soil surface will result in cooler temps and better water utilization.

If you have a barrier between the bed and soil surface, I think I'd want a deeper bed to have more water reserves.
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The current bed, made from a plastic 55 gallon barrel, sets above ground.
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The one I want to move them to, is made from a IBC tote. The plastic bottom sets directly on the ground (drain holes in bottom).
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trc65 said:
I've never grown berries in raised bed, so no help on depth.

I have planted strawberry in the fall, but much earlier in the fall so they have time to root and grow a little. My inclination would be to wait to spring, but really don't know.

Strawberries don't need renovation until after the first bearing season. Immediately after they are done bearing, I cut them off, fertilize and run a tiller over to thin them a little. For spring bearing berries definitely try to renovate by late June.
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I'll take your advice and wait until Spring. I have a few volunteers that rooted outside the bed on the ground. I will transplant them in the current bed so I can clean up around them.
 
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