New Garden Project

While I was picking up the lavender, pakalana, & catnip yesterday I saw a bunch of strawberries in 4" pots. I love fresh, sun-warmed strawberries. But so do the red-vented bulbuls. So I decided I will grow the strawberries in the cat run! I brainstormed last night and decided the best option was to grow them in a rain gutter using a drip irrigation system. Here's where I want to put them.

I will use the pieces of rebar stuck in the wall as the supports.

Here are the major components for my project. I had wanted to plant strawberries for Mom but she needed so much supervision I was unable to even get started thinking about how to do it. I will be using the Seascape strawberry, they are a day neutral variety so they will fruit year round as long as the temperature is between 35 to 85 degrees F.

I got the last 8 strawberry plants.

Here's what it looks like with the gutter in place. The strawberries in this photo are still in their 4" pots. I'll be taking them out of the pots and filling the gutter with soil.

There will be end caps on the gutter.

According to the instructions the drip irrigation system would take 20 minutes to install. But it actually took me about 90 minutes to get to this point below. But that was because I had to put the gutter together; the guy at City Mill warned me that it was really difficult to get the end caps on, he wasn't kidding. The drip system works, no leaks, but I still need to adjust it so it drains properly & doesn't allow water to pool and start rotting the strawberry roots & crowns. That will be tomorrow's task. Then I'll plant the strawberries! First harvest should be in about 3 months.

End caps are on, drain holes are drilled, & irrigators are dripping! Ready for the next step!

Here's what the bulbuls will see. Hopefully this will keep them from sneaking in through the chainlink fence openings.

The bulbul patrol on duty.

While I was checking on the new plants this morning I found a green caterpillar on the planter with the New Zealand spinach and sweet potato. I had to look really hard to find the sweet potato, the caterpillar had eaten all its leaves! I think it is an Achemon sphinx caterpillar (Eumorpha achemon).


But this planter has a bigger problem than the caterpillar. It's flooded, which will kill the plants more quickly than the caterpillar will.


Hopefully the bulbul patrol doesn't spend all their time in Solar Cat mode.


Happy Birthday to Evelyn, Donna, & Sherry! Happy Babe Ruth Day, Prime Rib Day, Tell A Story Day, & Take Our Sons and Daughters to Work Today!