I planted some red nasturtiums on one of the “mounds” we recently cleared of buttercups.
And lots of strawberries. At first they were just a curiosity. People would go: Oh, and you’ve got a strawberry plant. But then I realized there’s a lot to recommend strawberries for that plot. They have nice foliage almost all year round; they’re hardy; they spread–which means there are a lot of random strawberry plants all around the Unitarian Centre grounds to move.
And–did I mention–you can eat them? and they fruit before the drought comes in July-August.
Getting the plot ready for World Labyrinth Day. I’m rationalizing that it’s not terrible to show where it can still be improved. Perhaps I’ll attract some volunteer labyrinth tenders. Tender labyrinth tenders.
http://www.gardeningbc.com/page/Strawberries.html
Brian Minter says plant in March, but everything is late this year, right?
Here are some added benefits of strawberries:
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies in their research on strawberries, discovered that a Strawberry flavonoid, called fisetin, can stimulate signaling pathways in the brain, thus enhancing long term memory. Strawberries also lower systolic blood pressure and can reduce the risk of heart disease. This berry is also high in folate that can help lower the risk factors in heart disease. Strawberries are also loaded with vitamins C and K, contain calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium and are an excellent source of antioxidants.
https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=strawberry+plant+care
Sounds like the sunny location is great, but the clay soil and therefore poor drainage isn’t so great.
I’ll try to get Dianne to share some of her worm pee-tea to give them a start.
The article above says to pinch off blossoms for the first year.
I see that the mound planting is a good idea:
If your yard is clay-heavy or does not have good drainage, you’ll want to consider either creating a mound of your strawberry plants to grow on or building a raised bed for your strawberries.
from: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/strawberry/growing-strawberry-plants.htm
By accident, I was putting some heavy body gel around the edge of a photo so the edge is flat to have an example for the following night’s playdate.
And then at our final session, I was showing the lovely way that acrylic inks can spread when you spray with a little water. I had just put that piece aside to show some other things (like plaster, fabric, string and ribbons) that can be glued on to create texture. I had taken the cellophane wrapper off a roll of ribbon and it kind of floated onto the wet ink. It took quite a while to dry as the ink had a lot of water in it, but over time, the ink moved to the edge of the cellophane and also created some other patterns.
