Strawberry Season

Considering what a long drive it is to and from Canada, I have learned to take a day off between when I get home and when I go back to work. We got in around midnight last night and slept in late this morning. Before we left I had weeded around the plants in the garden but with four days of rain and warm weather, the plants were already surrounded. So I spent most of the day weeding and placing a thick layer of old hay around the tomato plants to prevent blight and also around the garlic and onions to keep the weeds down because they are a pain in the butt to weed. Everything is coming up beautifully; the tomatoes look great and it will be another bumper year (hopefully!). The green peppers look great- all except one that I think a rabbit has been eating the leaves off. The black beans and sweet corn, onions and garlic, as well as the pumpkins and butternut squash are all coming up and I will probably have more produce than I know what to do with, as usual. But I was smarter this year and planted the rows farther apart so that I only have to weed around the plants and take the rototiller through the middle of the row.

The strawberries started coming in and I picked the few that were ripe the Thursday before we left. The strawberries, being June bearing (meaning they bear fruit only in June as opposed to the ever-bearing varieties) always keep me busy. There were loads that were ripe and I had three full bowls by the end of my picking. I'll be out there every day for the next few weeks picking but I'm freezing them this year instead of canning them. I still have at least fifty jars of jam and sauce in the basement and, considering the issues I had last year, I'll just stick them in the freezer or give them away. The berries are really good this year- they aren't as big as the ones in the grocery stores (because they aren't packed full of fertilizers) but they taste so much better! If you want some strawberries, come on over, they'll be here all June!