The Walden Effect: Farming, simple living, permaculture, and invention.

Planting early strawberry varieties

Soaking strawberry roots

We love fresh strawberries, so we plant a range of varieties to extend the harvest season. Galletta is a bit of a gamble in that regard --- the plants might give us an extra week of strawberries very early in the season...or they might bloom so prematurely that we're unable to prevent freeze damage.

June garden

Planting location for an ultra-early variety like this depends on how much we're willing to risk. Should we plant in the sunniest part of the garden, ensuring blooms a week before strawberry flowers open up in the shade of our hillside (and resulting in similarly early strawberries)? Or should we plant in the colder part of the garden to retard flowers that will get nipped by late frosts?

I decided to live large and set out our Galletta strawberries in the sunny mule garden. But I hedged my bets by placing them all together in one raised bed that will be easy to cover with quick hoops or other frost-protection. Here's hoping I won't regret taking the high-risk approach to early strawberries!



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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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This responsible gardening, planning to protect the berries.
Comment by Tom Wed Jun 10 16:24:06 2015
I haven't bought strawberries in a while but don't recall soaking them. I am certain you have a great reason for it, lol. Can you share why you soak the strawberries and what you are soaking them in. Thank you, as always I love your site.
Comment by Alison Wed Jun 10 20:50:06 2015
Alison - I'm just soaking the roots before transplanting since they dried out a little during shipping. It's usually a good idea to make sure perennials are properly rehydrated before planting, especially during hot weather. Although, without leaves, they likely wouldn't have wilted anyway!
Comment by anna Wed Jun 10 20:54:10 2015





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