Strawberries Planted

After breakfast I worked on the strawberries. It took me a little over an hour to complete the project. Last night I brainstormed how to get the gutter to drain properly. I attached the gutter to a board and raised the end of the board about 1/2", creating about a 0.5% grade, which allows the gutter to drain properly.

From the east end, looking down the gutter.

From the west end, looking upslope.

It was painful, but I removed all the blossoms from the strawberry plants so that more energy would go in to growing more roots so that they can become well established. I will let any new flowers mature into fruit. I think the 8 plants should give us a suitable amount of berries for our breakfast fruit bowl. Right now we are eating oranges and mangoes from trees in our yard.


I ran the drip irrigation on manual in order to dampen all the new soil in the gutter. I had it on for 30 minutes, which is the amount I am considering every 24 hours to keep the plants properly watered. After 15 minutes it didn't look like much, even after 30 minutes it didn't look like the water had spread much. However, there was some water dripping out of the end of the gutter. After about 2 hours all the soil appeared to be saturated.

Water saturation after 15 minutes.

Water saturation after 30 minutes.

My original plan was to have the timer go on at 5 in the morning so it does not compete with the other watering schedules; the sprinkler for front yard comes on about 6 in the morning and the one for the back garden at about 7. I am reconsidering the timing due to the visit from a young brown anole; it came in to drink water. If I have it on at 9 in the morning when the anoles are more active; they might come around the strawberry plants more and they can help keep insect pests under control.




Aunty Jeannie and her sister Carolyn came over for dessert tonight. Curtis & Lori were also here, they picked up Aunty Judy on the way. Aunty Jeannie brought a Ted's Chocolate Haupia Pie, Curtis & Lori brought poi doughnuts from Kamehameha Bakery, Aunty Judy brought a strawberry layer cake, and I got haupia ice cream from 8 1/2 Desserts, turnovers & chocolate peanut butter doughnuts from Napoleon's Bakery. We had a great time catching up on what everyone has been doing. I showed them the slide show we had for Mom's service. Tomorrow Aunty Jeannie & Carolyn are going to Spam Jam in Waikiki. I might join them if it doesn't rain. There's a storm that dumped a bunch of rain this afternoon and a high probability that it will do the same tomorrow.

Clockwise from left: chocolate haupia pie (being cut for serving), haupia ice cream, box of pastries from Napoleon's (chocolate peanut butter doughnut on top), poi doughnuts, & strawberry layer cake.

Happy Birthday to Karyn, Jim, Cynthia, & Andrea! Happy Hairball Awareness Day! This is a day we all know about in this household! Also Happy Blueberry Pie Day, BraveHearts Day, Great Poetry Reading Day, Workers' Memorial Day, Superhero Day, Arbor Day, and Teach Children to Save!