Strawberries and Roses

I came across a recipe for strawberry and rose geranium flowers in the Blue Chair Jam Cookbook, it inspired me. I have a rose-scented geranium (note that I'm talking about the bedding plants...these are different) but it's not yet big enough to produce enough flowers.  Instead, I shoved a few leaves in some sugar to infuse.  The result?  Delicious, mildly rose-scented sugar.

After a hot day of strawberry picking, I threw a handful of fresh berries, a teaspoon of the rose-sugar, a tiny bit of water and a few ice cubes all together in a blender.  The result is a refreshing way to use a lot of berries!  Adding a splash of rose water (available in the middle eastern aisle of most grocery stores) just intensified the rose flavor.

All fortified now, I went on to make 2 batches of strawberry-balsamic jam!

Putting Up: Strawberry Balsamic Black Pepper Jam

Yes, I realize this isn't a post of garden photos. Those will come when it stops raining! And, yes, I realize that strawberries + balsamic vinegar + black pepper + jam sounds completely foul. But, sometimes opposites really do attract. This is one of those times, my friends.

Close your eyes. Imagine the taste of a fresh strawberry...not those big, flavorless ones, but those smaller, intense, deeply flavored ones. Now, imagine being able to spread that strawberry on toast, a biscuit, or pancakes. That's what this jam tastes like. I guess you could say it's a cheater way to take store bought strawberries (Whole Foods has a sale: 4lb for $8. Act fast!) and turn them into the image of a true strawberry.

Honestly, after this recipe, I see no reason for ever making "plain" strawberry jam again. The directions for this include canning instructions, but I'm sure you could freeze it in individual containers or give away to friends (without canning) for immediate consumption.

Strawberry Balsamic Black Pepper Jam
From: Canadian Living.

12 12cups cups(2.8 L) (2.8 L) strawberrystrawberries, hulled
1 1pkg (49 g) pkg (49 g)fruit pectin (I used Sure-Jell)
4-1/2 4-1/2cups cups(1.125 L) (1.125 L) granulated sugar
1/4 1/4cup cup(50 mL) (50 mL) balsamic vinegar
1 1tsp tsp(5 mL) (5 mL) coarsely cracked black pepper (use freshly ground!)

1. Sanitize 5 pint jars (or 10 half-pint). This recipe said it would produce 8 cups, but it produced 10 for me. Best to be prepared! Also, put 2 small plates in the freezer (to test the jell)

2. In a large pot, mash your strawberries. You can use a potato masher or, if you don't have one like me, use the bottom of a jar.

3. Mix the pectin with 1/4 c of the sugar; stir into the berries. Bring berries to full rolling boil over high. Stir constantly w/ wooden spoon. Add remaining sugar and boil hard for 1 minute.

4. Remove plate from freezer & put 1 tsp of jam on it. Return to freezer & wait 2 minutes. If, when you push the edge of the jam, it wrinkles & makes a little path, your jam will set. If it doesn't, cook the mixture a bit longer & try again.

5. Remove from heat. Skim off foam with metal spoon. Stir in balsamic vinegar and pepper.

6. Fill your sanitized jars with the hot jam, leaving head room. Remove air bubbles by running a chopstick around the edges of the jars and wipe the rim clean. Cover with sanitized lids and tighten the screw lid finger-tight. Put into boiling water and boil for 10 minutes.

7. Remove & let cool. You should hear some popping sounds if your jars seal. When cooled, you can test the seal; you should not be able to lift the lids off the jars.

Strawberries: The First Sign of Summer

Our first strawberry. I gave to the husband (Mr. Radish) and he graciously let me have a little bite. Holy cow! Delicious. I forgot how good strawberries could taste. This was so superior to the grocery store (and, occasionally the varieties at the Farmer's Market), I'm seriously considering devoting more of the garden to a strawberry patch. Currently we've got a 5 ft. x 3 ft. plot & 2 pots with them. And each plant next year will give up a quart or so of berries...

Maybe I should hold off...

I'm letting the ones in the pots produce, but I'm still pinching off the buds of the ones in the ground per the instructions they came with.

I've already discussed what strawberries need to survive. But, after they are in the ground (or pot) and flourishing, what's next? One of my friends, E, recently asked me the "Now what?" question. And, that was a really good question! This is my first year growing strawberries, so I did some research to find out the answers. (Specifically, Rodale's Garden Answers, Grow Magazine- Vol. 2 & Organic Gardening- June/July 2009.) Here are the answers:

Will the red berries get bigger if I leave them on the plant longer?
Nope. Strawberry plants have pre-determined sizes. Some varieties produce big fruit, some produce itty-bitty. Once they are red, they aren't going to get significantly bigger. However, clipping the runners before they set fruit will encourage larger strawberries because the plant will put more energy in producing fruit than creating "daughters."

If I pick the strawberries will I get more?
I can't find anything to back this up one way or another. However, it would make sense to me that if you harvest berries as soon as they are totally red & not let them sit around for a second, then the plant has the energy it was sending to the fruit to do something else. And just maybe that something else is to produce another berry!

Am I supposed to be fertilizing them or anything?
Grow recommends a slow release fertilizer every month during the growing season of the second & third years. Organic Gardening recommends a well-balanced organic fertilizer monthly during growing season, specifically a mixture of fish emulsion & seaweed (portions not mentioned). You should, however, stay away from high-nitrogen fertilizers as that will result in lots of leaves & not as many fruits.

Also, weed. Weeds compete with strawberries' shallow roots and potentially harbor diseases.

Oh, and when it's dry out, water them, but try to do it from ground level. Wet fruit & leaves can lead to disease.

How long should I leave them on the vine once they turn red?
They are ready for consumption the moment they are all red.

Finally, what do I need to do at the end of the season?
For the Mid-Atlantic area Rodale recommends shearing back the plants after they are done producing. You can do this with a lawnmower set to 1.5-2" (or, if you're in a raised bed like me, use your scissors). Dig up any rogue "daughters" & remove every single weed. Then spread a 1-in layer of compost over the whole bed, water, fertilize with diluted fish emulsion and apply straw mulch.

In late winter when you see pale new leaves beginning to grow, pull back the mulch around the crowns.

Strawberries Ahoy!

Today we picked up the materials needed to build our raised beds. This year, we are trying out the Square Foot Gardening (SFG) method because it makes sense to me (mostly. I am still skeptical about everything only growing in 6 inches of "soil".) and it seems easier to build raised beds than working our heavy, clay soil into something that can sustain plant life. Grass barely grows! And, it seems like the next logical step from the container gardening we did last year.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will be constructing these beds (to be blogged) and, because I'm an avid planner, I started to map out what can go where. So far, my "to plant in ground" list includes, pending plantlet survival, (some herbs will be in pots so they can be over wintered indoors):

7 basil plants
1 rosemary (to be bought)
2 parsley
9 hot peppers (yes, this is a ridiculous amount. We will not grow this many next year)
4 sweet peppers
1 bergamont
1 lavender
6 tomatoes

And we've got 3 beds: one 3 x 10 ft, one 3 x 20 ft and one 4 x 5.5 ft. Yes, I am aware those 3 ft deep beds are not SFG-regulation. This is my act of rebellion, deal with it. Anywho, as I started mapping out what I have for plantlets in the are (for example, a tomato/pepper plant goes in 1 sqft, 4 basil plants per sqft, etc.) I realized we've got way too much room. Waaaaayy too much. Solution? Lop off 5 ft or so of the 20 ft bed and turn it into a strawberry patch. I am almost more excited at the thought of homegrown tomatoes than homegrown strawberries. ALMOST. And y'all are aware of my feelings towards tomatoes.

So What Do Strawberries Need To Thrive?

First off, there are 3 types of strawberries: june bearing, everbearing, and day neutral.

June Bearing: Produce one large crop per year during a 2-3 week period in the spring. They usually come in early, mid-season and late varieties. This type sends out a lot of runners, but has larger fruit than the other types.

Everbearing: Produce 2-3 crops of fruit during spring, summer and fall. They do not send out many runners.

Day Neutral: Produce crops throughout the growing season. They do not send out many runners.

Strawberries like to have water, but not too much. And they like (full) sun, but will tolerate a bit of part-shadeness. Lucky me...the part of my bed that is becoming the strawberry patch gets closer to 6 hours of sun now (I imagine it'll be more like 8 in the summer), which is the shadiest part of the garden. And, even awesomer? They are perennial in Zone 7 (at least some varieties are). Meaning, plant once & harvest for years to come. I've read that they only last for 5 years or so, but that's totally fine for me. Who knows, my untreated pine beds may be rotted out by then!

Warning: Strawberries are basically a fruit-bearing weed. They can take over. Hence having a bed (meaning there will be wood between the strawberries & the rest of the bed) for them & them alone. Essentially, the mother plant sends out runners (think plant arms) that are called daughters. If you snip off these daughters, you don't have them taking over quite so badly. And some say that snipping off the daughters makes the plant concentrate more on fruit production and thus making a tastier berry. We shall see.

I'm also going to build a little cage over my berries to protect them from the poaching of unscrupulous robins. We've got some feisty, fear-nothing robins that I'm sure would eat our berries just to spite us...Hateful birds.

I am going to plant a mix of june bearing, everbearing and day neutral to see what works best for my site. Anyone have any tips/tricks for strawberry growing?