Like Fall

All this last week while I had been away from the farm, I was afraid that I would miss a good time to get my little baby strawberry plants into the ground before winter really took hold. The dry and cold weather pattern made me hold off most of October and well into November. I did not want to try to plant the tender little plants while the ground kept freezing at night with lows in the 20’s.

These plants were the runners that I had coerced into trays of potting soil after the berry season had ended. I was able to keep the tender tips moist all summer and most of them sprouted roots of their own so they could be cut away from their mother plants and survive in the garden.

I had driven home in the dark after several days away from home and the weather was still dry, so first thing in the morning I got the rototiller out into the garden and revved it up. I could already see little leaves of those dreaded buttercups poking up through the soil that choked out the last patch. I made a couple of sweeps through the garden and parked the rototiller at the edge of the patch thinking that I could give it one last go-over the next day.

But showers had moved in overnight. Ditching the idea of the perfect tilling job, I planted two rows of plants.

Now I will sit back and watch Mother Nature put the little starts to rest for the winter and hopefully they will perk back up in the spring in enough time to have delicious strawberries in June.

I can already taste the sweet goodness!

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