It’s getting close to panting time so that means getting my raised beds ready for all those new plants coming from my greenhouse. I built the beds a couple of years ago and here’s how I “built” the dirt for them < click here >. Last year I had to add a bit of dirt & compost to fill them back up due to some settling…which is normal. This year I have to do the same but it will be far less to add.

I wrote about mulch/compost < click here > which I will be adding today. The “fill” today will be the bulk compost from the local green recycler which also happens to be owned by Gro-Well.

Note: No, that first picture above is not of my raised bed. I created it with AI just because I could and I thought it would be cool.

Starting out the bed doesn’t look all that bad, some weeds, but too much sand/dirt, not enough organic matter. Weeds are not bad at all. Yeah, you can see my garden/spade/digging fork in the background. I won’t be using a shovel…no need to. The “fork” does a much better job of mixing the soil and breaking up any “clods” of dirt.

First pass is just taking out the weeds.

Then I go down each side and turn over the existing dirt. I don’t get too crazy, just push that fork in and turnover whatever comes up.

Then comes the “amendments”.
I sprinkle in about 2 cups of a 4-4-4 organic fertilizer to provide nutrients to the entire bed. This is about a 50sq’ bed, use your best judgement on how much fertilizer you should put in your bed(s)…yeah, follow the bag’s instructions.
Since this bed has a higher volume of dirt (and some clay), I am also adding about one #10 can of  bio-char (I will post an article about bio-char later…in a week or so).

Here’s an up close picture of what the amendments look like.

I then added 8 5-gal buckets of the compost on top of that. Then that all gets turned in/over once again.

Here’s a “hack” for you…I then watered it with a pretty high concentration of 5-1-1 Alaska fish based liquid fertilizer.
Why?
Because the chunkier pieces of “compost” will take/borrow nitrogen from the soil to feed the microbes that will break those woody pieces down into fine/better compost. And that nitrogen that it uses will not be available to the plants in a week or two when I transplant…or for another couple of months, etc. So, the addition of the liquid nitrogen fertilizer will be used to feed the microbes and leave the nitrogen in the soil. Yes, once the microbes have used the nitrogen to breakdown the chunks, the nitrogen will be available once again for the plants to use.

Finally, I raked it all out to a pretty decent looking bed. I will water it a couple of times before I plant to make sure the soil is at least damp and to help out the microbes. Also, it activates the organic fertilizer so it releases into the soil.
And don’t get carried away…I will turn it all over once more time, then rake it out before I do the actual planting. That ensures everything is well mixed in and ready to grow some amazing tomatoes.

Here’s a close-up of what the soil looks like when I was all done. When I do the actual transplant I will use a “planting soil” mix that isn’t quite so chunky. But, I wouldn’t have to…there is nothing wrong with this soil for growing healthy and happy plants.

Couple Extra Notes –

1. If I had too much clay soil in the bed I would add more bio-char, a healthy amount of perlite and more compost.
2. If I had too much sand I would add a bunch of bio-char, a healthy amount of vermiculite and more compost.
3. For any older bed or a known nutrient poor bed, but the soil had a good composition, I would use worm castings, bio-char, and an organic fertilizer such as 4-4-4 or 5-5-5.
4. If I had too much compost in my bed then I would use perlite and coarse sand to give it more structure. If the compost is really dense, not chunky, then I would add in small, aged, wood chips. But remember, those chips will borrow nitrogen from the soil as the microbes break them down…so add a nitrogen amendment helper.
5. If I was really worried that my soil wasn’t good enough then I would use a planting mix for the hole I put my plant in. That means fill in around my plant with worm castings. Then use it as a top dressing, about 1/4″ or so.

Related Articles –

• How to make dirt…Part #1
• GARDEN : Let’s talk mulch…ah, compost…

 2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed.
I may receive compensation from advertised/mentioned products on this website.
See Content Use Policy for more information.

Follow-up article from < GARDEN : Planting butternut squash, cantaloupe, & watermelon… >

Note: Originally written on April 28th, updated on May2nd.

I’ve been working on a melon patch for a couple months. Why? Last couple of years we simply grew more watermelon, cantaloupe, and squash plants and fruit than we had room for. A lot of it went to waste just because we couldn’t even see the fruit. Decision last fall was to get the large vine type plants out of the raised beds and into the ground outside of the garden area to let them spread out. But, as you’ve read before…our dirt sucks! Dead, dry, packed concrete, and just plain sucky!

I picked a spot last year and started adding organic matter into 4 rows with the rotor-tiller. Then a bit of soil conditioner, some perlite, some vermiculite, and a spot of organic fertilizer…then more organic matter. Tilled it all in about 10” – 12” deep maybe 4 – 5 times overall. The ground was no longer packed dead dirt…looking decent.

Early this spring…I added compost, more soil conditioner, more organic fertilizer…then more organic matter. Looking really good!

At the end of March, before the big freeze, I planted two butternut squash plants to give them a jump start on the season. They made it through the big freeze…or so I thought. Nope…they didn’t…well, kinda.

Before I noticed an issue I decided to plant more in the “patch” to get an early start…extend the growing season. I planted; 2 more butternut, 2 cantaloupe, and 2 watermelon plants. Why an early start? Butternut squash takes about 90 – 120 days from seed planting to harvest…of the first fruit. And for cantaloupe and watermelon is about 75 – 100 days. Depending on the weather flowering is 40 – 60 days. I figured I could get my plants to the flowering stage in the greenhouse…then only about 60 days to harvest…depending on weather. Our growing season…June 1^st still has a 10% chance of frost. The first frost usually hits between October 1 and the 17^th. So that is a clear window of 120 days +/- of growing fruit…if I start the plants in the greenhouse.

First two…

Then I got brave and six more plants went into the ground about 10 days later…eight plants in total were in the ground…then another cold night hit…then another…then one of the original butternut plants started looking like this…

Yeah, not real healthy, eh? Leaves are not supposed to look brown and black.

A little research and unknown to me…squash, melon, and cantaloupe plants suffer below 50° at night. And they really start to fade below 40° at night. If you are wondering…yes, I covered them at night with quilts. Butternut plants showed real signs of stress. Then I made the decision…dig them back up and put them back in the greenhouse. Not an ideal solution but better than losing them all together.

And then it all looked liked this…

Yup! I dug them back up, potted the, and they now live in the greenhouse again. Forget the yellow lilies…they go on the flower mound.

So 10 days later that beat-up butternut squash with the black and brown leaves…

I cut back on the water for a couple of days, then cut off a couple of the worst leaves. Then as new leaves came on I cut off the next couple of the worst leaves. I kept repeating that until I got this…a once again healthy butternut squash plant.

A week later…
1) kept trimming off the dead and sad looking leaves
2) a few days ago I did a liquid fish fertilizer 5-1-1 to bring back the green and encourage growth.
3) Two days ago I did a blood meal fertilizer 12-0-0 for a bit more nitrogen to continue improving its health, encouraging growth, and getting the nice pretty green back.

I will be planting…actually, replanting…the melon patch…or at least starting to…later this week. This plant will not be one of the first to go back in. I want to give it plenty of time to recover.

Related Articles –

• GARDEN : Planting butternut squash, cantaloupe, & watermelon…

 2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
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without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
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I may receive compensation from advertised/mentioned products on this website.
See Content Use Policy for more information.

Time to get them in the ground and growing ! !

Note: Originally written in mid-April…the actual planting took place at the end of March.

It’s early but it looks like no more freezes at night…time to get them in the ground. Why an early start? Butternut squash takes about 90 – 120 days from seed planting to harvest…of the first fruit. And for cantaloupe and watermelon is about 75 – 100 days. Depending on the weather flowering is 40 – 60 days. I figured I could get my plants to the flowering stage in the greenhouse…then only about 60 days to harvest…depending on weather. Our growing season…June 1^st still has a 10% chance of frost. The first frost usually hits between October 1 and the 17^th. So that is a clear window of 120 days +/- of growing fruit…if I start the plants in the greenhouse. Lot’s more fruit and fruit earlier 🙂

I plant a couple different ways depending on what I am planting. In this case butternut squash, watermelon, and my favorite…cantaloupe. Plants such as tomatoes can use really high-quality soil to make better tasting fruit and healthier plants. What I am planting today only needs good or decent soil so I plant differently.

See, I could mix up a big batch of high-quality planting soil and just use that for everything…but that would be a waste of that soil…and cost too much. But I still use it, just differently. I will explain in the pictures below.

I start off digging my hole at least twice as deep and twice as wide as the container that is holding the plant. I go deeper if the soil is poor quality. Once the hole is dug I add about 1/2tbsp of a balanced organic fertilizer such as a 4-4-4. I then use my trowel to rough it into the soil at the bottom of the hole. Then throw in a handful of my high-quality planting soil and stir it all up nicely. If you have time…like planting the next day…and you are planting in really dry soil, fill the hole with water and allow it to soak into the ground overnight. I build up the soil in the hole until the surface of the soil in the container will be even with, or slightly below, the soil in the container.

I can tell the plant is ready to be put in the ground. Nice root ball but not over crowded. You don’t want a dense & crowded root ball…that means the plant was stressed trying to grow roots with nowhere for them to go.
If there are fewer roots than what is showing…I put the plant back into the container and back into the greenhouse.

I break-up (gently loosen) the root ball a bit to encourage the plant to spread out its roots. I don’t get too crazy…just gently loosen them up as you can see.
If you plant a bound up root ball you will probably get a stunted plant with less growth than it could have.

I place the plant in the hole and add some of that planting soil for the first inch or two around the plant. Then comes a layer of native soil, then about 1/4sbsp of the 4-4-4 organic fertilizer. Then I gently stir that up and repeat the process until I reach about 1/2″ below the surface of soil around the plant.

When I get about 1″ from flush I add the final layer of native soil.

Then comes about 1/2 – 1tbsp of the fertilizer around the drip edge. I will use more fertilizer if the soil is really in bad shape.

Then finally top it off with the planting soil and gently mixed in and pressed down ever so gently and slightly. Then watered in thoroughly. If you want to water it in with each layer combination that is fine with me.

Then finally, once it has been watered in, I mulched around the plant with grass clippings…about 2 – 3″ or so. Then the protective fencing…protects against the rabbits who sneak into the yard at night…and two dogs that thinks organic fertilizer is an appetizer.

Then came the irrigation and this it what I ended up with…

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No reproduction or other use of this content
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
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I may receive compensation from advertised/mentioned products on this website.
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Funny thing…mulch and compost are often confused and used interchangeably. Well, depending on the “mulch” you can use it as compost. But, a lot of mulch isn’t compost. For this article I will be comparing mulch that can be used as compost and show the difference between the two.

In our area there are 3 very popular brands of…ah…compost…ah…mulch. Two of them are steer manure from Grow King…one in a blue bag, another in a brown bag. Look at the two on the right…

Yeah, from every thing I can tell they are the same…exact same. Oddly enough, both are made by Gro-Well. One is from Lowes, the other from Home Depot…imagine that. Weird…both advertise “Steer Manure”…but I’ve never identified steer manure in either. Wait for it…so it might be BS. Clever, eh?

The other bag claims “Mushroom Compost”…hey, we’ve all heard good things about that kind of material…right? Yeah, well, I didn’t see any mushrooms in it. And honestly…I wouldn’t know what to look for to identify it as mushroom compost. What I did notice…yeah, it looks REAL similar to the other two…maybe a little chunkier and a little darker but that could be just a bit more moisture. So, if it’s chunkier is it really compost…or just mulch?

And I looked over the bag…yup, made by Gro-Well. Whoa! So all three look real similar and all made by Gro-Well. Yeah, I had to do a little more research and found that all three are made as “private label” products by different companies based regionally around the country. And guess what…there is a local “green recycler” locally…and I happen to know the manager. I was out there a couple days ago…I remembered something he had said a couple months back so I asked him about “Gro-Well”. Not brain surgery…I looked at the small print on the sign by the road.

You guessed it…his “yard” or “plant” was owned by…wait for it…Gro-Well. And yes, some of his chipped and ground-up material was shipped to a Gro-Well processing plant in the state that makes…wait for it…all three products I mentioned above. And to make it even more interesting…I’ve bought compost…real compost…from his yard before. That stuff is very high quality, even had worms in it, that tells you that it’s really good stuff. Yeah, I bought some that day, was going to anyways, I need to top off my raised beds. Here’s a picture of it…

So, what am I telling you? The three different bags mentioned above are pretty much the same, if not exact. They are all organic matter and various sizes of that matter…which is a good thing. Funny, the mushroom compost bag itself has a larger size when looked at as dimensions but it still contains 1 cubic foot of material, as do all of them. The “steer manure” runs about $2.88 per bag. Odd, the “mushroom compost” runs the same…$2.88 per bag. All bags are 1 cubic foot of material.

When I bought it in bulk that day I paid $50 for one cubic yard. Probably more than a cubic yard because they were generous with the loader bucket overflowing. Follow along with me…there are 27 cubic feet in a cubic yard. So, in bulk I paid $1.85 per cubic yard. If I were to buy a cubic yard in bags it would cost $77.76. In bulk it is about 66% the cost of buying in bags. And, in my opinion, the bulk compost is really compost, not like the mulch/compost that is in the bags.

What the heck is my bottom line?

1. If you are buying from a big box store…don’t get too twisted up when buying mulch/compost. Read the bag and see who makes it. If it costs the same, it’s probably the same.
2. If you have a “green recycler” in your area go talk to them. Tell them what you are looking for…they may have it. Have them show it to you. Stick your hand into it, move it around, look closely at it. Is it what you want? One caution…look for any trash in it such as plastics. Not a good sign. Buying direct and in bulk might save you some money and get you a better product.
3. If you are amending your soil and need organic matter don’t get too picky. The mulch/compost options I showed above work…I’ve used them.

CAUTION: Do not use wood chips as a soil amendment product. Wood chips, especially new/fresh ones,  breakdown very slowly in the soil. And it takes a lot of microbes to breakdown those chips (decomposition). And to do so the microbes need nitrogen…and those microbes will take the nitrogen from the soil to do so…and that will deny your plants of that needed nitrogen. Wood chips as a mulch on the surface are great…and won’t use nitrogen from the soil where your plants’ roots are. A little top dressing of organic or fish-based fertilizer with nitrogen in it will help the wood chips decompose if that is what you want…for your wood chip surface mulch.

Better-Best: If you need organic matter in your soil…go get you some! High quality organic compost is the best. But don’t shy away from any of the bagged options above. If you really want to add some serious benefits to your soil…especially a smaller bed or container…use one of the bagged options and then add in worm castings. Oh yeah!

Worm castings are one of the best things you can add to soil. It is basically worm poop (from earthworms digesting organic matter). The benefits:

• Add nutrients: contain nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium (N-P-K) plus trace minerals plants need, and the nutrients are slow-release, so they don’t burn plant roots.
• Improves soil structure: helps sandy soil hold water, help clay soil loosen up, and creates better aeration for roots.
• Boosts microbial life: full of beneficial bacteria and microbes, helps break down organic matter, and improves overall soil health.
• Improves water retention, soil stays moist longer, and reduces watering needs.
• Helps plant growth, stronger roots, better germination, and improves yields.

I’ve used Noble Worm Organic Noble Worm Organics in a 10 lb bag from Lowes. About $18 per bag, and I had to order it. You add about 10 – 20% castings per volume of your bed or container. If you have large beds I wouldn’t use that much…maybe 5% or so at most. Then after I plant I would use a bit more as top dressing along with some organic fertilizer. Look, some is better that none…don’t get carried away and go crazy with the castings…patience.

One last piece of info…if your mulch/compost is a little chunky with wood like those mentioned above you might want to add some additional nitrogen to the soil. That will replace the nitrogen that feed the microbes that breaks down that woody material. I personally like a fish-based product such as…

Another option would be blood meal…

The liquid fish-based product would be absorbed faster by the microbes but the blood meal has a higher concentration of nitrogen but would take longer to be absorbed by the microbes.

 2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed.
I may receive compensation from advertised/mentioned products on this website.
See Content Use Policy for more information.

This experience couldn’t have been more different than the “bare root” experience. I bought my 20 Eversweet plants from an Etsy vendor…GrowYourOwnFoodShop. I’ve written about them before, they are the folks from whom I purchased my “test” plants last season. They were extremely helpful, easy to work with, and flat-out nice people.

I was hoping to buy 10 Albion and 10 Eversweet live plants from them for this year. Turns out they were going to by $100 for all 20…not a bad deal, we just didn’t have the $100 at the time. A little later, maybe a month or so, the vendor offered $50 for 20 Eversweet. I couldn’t say no.

The last “strawberry” post I related my planting “bare root” plants…considerably different than planting “live plants”. Well, not entirely different but some.

I had already prepped the raised beds, amended the soil, and planted some bare root plants (bed on the left). The bed on the right has the plants carried over from last year.
The box contains the live plants that I just picked up from the mail drop.

It is kinda weird…each little 2″x2″ planting pot is taped together with the others and all are taped to the box itself. That prevents them from shift around during transit. Each pot is wrapped in cling wrap to keep the soil intact and the soil moist. There was absolutely no damage to any plant. This was the same method they used last year, it works really well.

Then I literally laid out each potted plant where I was planning on planting it. This ensures I have the spacing right and that it makes sense.

I like to dig a notably larger hole than the pot. I put about 1 teaspoon of organic fertilizer (4-4-4) in the bottom and mix it thoroughly.

I don’t “fluff” the roots with live plants like I do with the bare root plants. I keep the root ball intact…it is already loose mulch soil and is not root bound.
I don’t pack the soil, I water it and that packs it without it being too packed/dense.
Once all that is done you can see I did a ring of the same organic fertilizer around the plant.
Look how good the quality of that live plant is! That is what you get when working with a quality vendor such as GrowYourOwnFoodShop on Etsy.

Once all the plants are in the ground I go ahead and water them in really well. I put about 1 quart of water on each plant. When that is done I start over and put another quart on them.
Then they get wood chip mulched and drip irrigation installed.
And yes…I picked up my trash.

So here you go…my latest attempt at building a great strawberry patch…

< click here to read about my planting “bare root” Albion & Eversweet everbearing strawberry plants >

Related Articles –

• Strawberry Update…Success ! (September 2025)
• GARDEN : Strawberries – Planting Bare Root (April 2026)

 2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed.
I may receive compensation from advertised/mentioned products on this website.
See Content Use Policy for more information.

First time for everything! I’ve been sharing my love of strawberries for years, and my desire to have a strawberry patch. After years of learning about strawberries and how to grow them in this area, I think I finally have it figured out. This was the year!! Well, maybe…

I’ve got 5 raised beds set aside for my patch…about 150sq’ (+/-). They have great soil, well amended with about 30 – 35% coarse sand. I have a few plants carried over from last year…those were my test plants…proof of concept. I have settled on two varieties that should do well in the area…Albion (2 beds – 29 plants) and Eversweet (3 beds – 51 plants). Since I can’t afford 80 live plants to start with I decided to try out bare root strawberry plants…50 of them…½ & ½ of the two varieties.

An example of what quality bare root strawberry plants should look like.

I ordered the bare root plants from a vendor on Etsy…HandPickedNursery. It was a nightmare! Before I ordered them I asked the vendor what kind of shipping timing was I looking at. Their response “2 to 3-day processing time but usually ship right away.” Great…I placed the order.

The shipping information looked like they shipped within 4 days…okay, nothing special. But, ah, wrong! All they did was create a shipping label. I asked about that and they assured me they were shipped within 2 business days. Ah, wrong again. After 6 days I was just a wee bit upset…and messaged them. They were sorry that the process wasn’t “meeting my expectations”. Oh boy!

So…it wasn’t “1 – 2 days” to ship…it was 8. Then another 5 days to arrive. 13 days total. Yeah, not good. Their customer service was terrible. Then I looked at the plants…ouch. Now, remember I’ve never worked with bare root strawberry plants so I am not an expert on it by any stretch of the imagination. But, it looks as if only about ½ the plants have survived. Time will tell if more do well, but I am not hopeful.

Here’s what arrived…two rather shabby looking bags of supposedly dormant bare root strawberry plants.

Here’s what they look like while I re-hydrated them. You only re-hydrate for 1 – 2 hours…and only place the roots in the water.
Yes, to me the plants look terrible.

Raised bed boxes all prepped, soil amended, raked & leveled out…ready to go. Yes, I know…I need to do a bit of weeding outside of the boxes. That comes later before the veggies go in.

I use my hoe and simple draw my rows to ensure I get the row spacing right.

Then I come back and dig my holes properly spaced and deep enough. At this time I also add about 1/2 teaspoon of organic fertilizer in the bottom of the hole. I use a 4-4-4 fertilizer. I stir it around.
Next, I place a plant in each hole in one row.

Then I place each plant properly in the hole making sure to not bury the “crown”. I also make sure I fluff out the roots before putting them in the hole. I also make sure that the hole is plenty deep enough for the longest plant root.
Then mulch them in with wood chips, add drip irrigation…and done!

In a couple of days I will post an article that covers planting the live plants.

Why did I buy “bare root”? $1.21 per plant vs. $2.85 per plant. And the $2.85 was a “special” price for me…almost half-price to be exact. Normally, live strawberry plants run about $5 per plant.

And “No!” I will never ever do business with HandPickedNursery again…EVER!

< click here to read about my planting “live” Eversweet everbearing strawberry plants >

Related Articles –

• Strawberry Update…Success ! (September 2025)
• GARDEN : Strawberries – Planting Bare Root (April 2026)

 2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed.
I may receive compensation from advertised/mentioned products on this website.
See Content Use Policy for more information.

Some days you just wanna…well, wonder what the heck is going on. Last Saturday morning was one of those days…disaster had struck in the garden the night before. Well, technically in the greenhouse…but it is all part of the “garden project.” Here what happened…

We’ve had an early spring, unseasonably warm…quite beautiful. On top of that I did my calculations based on the last few years and decided to start my seedlings in February, early February to be exact. Back in mid-February I posted an article showing my seedlings starts.

Garden in mid-February.

It was an overall huge success! I wanted lots of plants this year, not just for us for the most part…I wanted plenty of plants to give to others for them to grow their own food this season. With the economy/affordability in such bad shape and food inflation running so high, we thought it would be nice to help some folks out.

The transition from seedlings in the house on a heat mat to the greenhouse went really well. The plants were doing fantastic and this year I was able to spend enough time to do it right. We had lots of tomato plants, butternut squash, couple varieties of cantaloupe, and couple varieties of watermelon. The early start to cantaloupe and watermelon was based on our short growing season…I wanted to give us a jump start on it. We had about a total of 80 plant starts in the greenhouse.

Greenhouse Plants on March 22nd…before the Big Freeze.

We watch the weather reports pretty closely when we have plants in the greenhouse. We usually run about 2 – 4 degrees cooler than the predictions for the area. Friday night it was supposed to hit 31°. That is not a problem…we just turn on our greenhouse electric heater and we are good to go. Since moving the plants to the greenhouse we had a few night in the upper 20’s with no problem. About 8pm Friday night I turned on the heat, it was 48°. Wind was blowing a bit, but not bad.

I woke up at 1am and it was 30° outside, 34° in the greenhouse…cooler ahead of schedule. I turned the heat up to high. I woke up at 3am…it was now 26° outside, 30° in the greenhouse. Nothing more I could do…the heater was on high and damage done, if there was going to be any. I woke up at 5am…22° outside, 26° in the greenhouse. All is lost…I knew the damage wouldn’t show up till late in the afternoon, so I just started doing other shores…sick to my stomach.

Long story short…I thought everything was going to be dead…all the plants were young and 26° is a hard freeze any way you look at it. By the end of Saturday it looked as if ½ of the plants were dead. All put 2 of the tomatoes a lot of the melons and cantaloupe. The butternut squash was hit the least but some of them dead as well.

Well, it is Sunday morning…Yea! I went out and culled the sheep from the goats. Okay, it was the dead plants from the living plants. It is obvious that we lost about 20 – 25% of the plants, mostly tomatoes but melon and squash as well. We do have a variety of tomatoes left and a bunch of melon and squash are still good. It looks as if we might lose another 5 – 10 plants, mostly tomatoes but that won’t be intolerable.

Greenhouse plants on the morning of April 5th. The Big Freeze survivors.

Considering that a hard freeze should have killed it all…we may have a loss totaling no more than 40% of the plants when is all is said and done…not too bad. Lucky and blessed I would say.

The Big Freeze bone pile…April 5th.

What I haven’t been talking about was the over-wintered Big Jim pepper plants. Those plants are where Hatch green chili comes from. Best green chili in the universe…period!! I was doing some research last year and found out that pepper plants are actually perennials not annuals. Well, technically they are bi-annuals. So I followed the process last fall and over the winter. I put the first two plants into one of the raised beds about 6 weeks ago and covered them anytime it looked as if it would be 38° or below. Then 3 weeks ago I put out the last two. Yeah, I was so focused on the greenhouse Friday I completely forgot about those 4 pepper plants. Oooopppppsssss…frozen dead. Fortunately I had already started 10 new plants about 4 weeks ago just in case the overwinter process didn’t work. Those little seedlings are doing just fine…about ¾” – 1” tall and safely tucked away on a heat mat in a spot with a south facing window and grow light…in the house.

Overwintered Big Jim pepper plants post-freeze. Yeah, dead.

I didn’t even think about this till Saturday afternoon…the new bare-root strawberry plants! Thursday afternoon/evening I planted my brand new 50 bare root strawberry plants…25 Albion & 25 Eversweet. That was to be the foundation of my HUGE strawberry patch that I have been dreaming about for years.

Saturday afternoon I went out to the garden to check their moisture and then it hit me…they were in the ground 1 day before the freeze. Normally strawberry plants can handle some very cold temps…really cold…but mature plants properly cared for. These were brand new little guys, fresh in the ground. Some of the plants appear to be a bit brittle on the tops, but that may be just because of the nature of bare root plants. I don’t know their actual status as of now.

Bare root strawberry plants planted on April 2nd, one day before the Big Freeze. Yes, there are plants in there…basically by each watering head.

Good thing is I had about 3” of cedar wood chip mulch around them. This one step may have saved them. I don’t think I will know for sure for weeks…when they don’t turn green and don’t show new growth. Time will tell…patience is the name of the game now. Yeah, not my strong suit.

A small blessing…I have 20 Eversweet strawberry plants (not bare root) sitting at the mailbox in town. I will pick them up Monday and get them in the ground. They should be fine. So I might not have the HUGE patch this year I had planned on, but I will have some…better than a sharp stick in the eye.

I try to find lessons learned from any experience like this…

• Never, ever fully (or partially) trust the weather reports.
• When in doubt, overkill is the best option (I could have moved them to the house).
• Always have a Plan “B” & Plan “C”.
• Think about a better way to heat the greenhouse.

I am grateful for the blessing of apparently not losing all the plants. It appears we will have plenty of plants for our own garden and still have enough plants to share with others. And we will still have a strawberry patch…albeit small…but a patch all the same. Thank you Lord !

 2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
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So there I was Friday night…out to dinner with my wife celebrating 21 years together, wedded bliss. Yeah, hard to believe that someone would put up with me for 21 whole years. I guess she has weak points as well 😉

I made the comment how excited I was. She smiled sweetly…and I realized I had just stepped in it.

I quickly made a short, heartfelt comment about being with her for so long and still excited about it. Whew! Crisis averted.

Then I went on to mention for the third time that day that I was also excited about having ordered the 50 bare root strawberry plants earlier in the day and that they should be in by Friday. I was pumped!

Yup, we have 25 Eversweet and 25 Albion bare root strawberry plants headed our way (see picture above). I am so psyched ! ! ! The couple of plants we tried last year did really well, now I am ready for a patch of em. We really can’t afford buying that many potted plants (almost $150) so we are going bare root. They should do just fine….I will keep you updated.

But, there is more…it’s spring…

The purple plum is absolutely gorgeous this year! Last year we had 2 very windy days just as the blossoms hit and they were gone before we could enjoy them. Not this year…beautiful !

And then there are the fruit trees in the orchard going nuts…even this newest peach tree in its second year…

Then there is the oldest peach tree…it’s fourth year…

Here are the lilacs I mentioned that I transplanted from bushes I dug up that had been completely neglected for almost 25 years. Here is one of them…

And I am totally excited about all the seedlings coming along for the garden. Several varieties of tomatoes, butter nut squash, two varieties of cantaloupe, and watermelon. 60 pots of them, some 75 plants in total. Of course only about 1/3 for us, the rest are for others to enjoy in their own gardens growing their own food.

So yeah, I was excited Friday…and I am excited today walking around looking it all over and taking the pictures. I hope you too are excited about the new growing season that is upon us.

 2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed.
I may receive compensation from advertised/mentioned products on this website.
See Content Use Policy for more information.

I am no master gardener…not by a long shot. But, my thumb is fairly green. In years past, pretty much all my life, I’ve done pretty well with vegetable and flower gardens. I did have a heck of a time figuring out how to grow much of anything in this western US, fine sand and clay soil. Yeah, the little rain and intense sun didn’t help my learning curve much.

But here I am…finally on the productive side of the growing curve. I will share what knowledge I have for what has worked for me. I hope you find some value in it. Submit any garden questions you might have…I will do my best to answer them.

• Is perlite and vermiculite the same thing and which do you prefer?

They are kinda like the same thing…but not exactly. Both are soil amendments, but:

Vermiculite:

• improves water retention
• contains minerals that plants can use
• improves soil condition
• helps retain nutrients
• easier for seedlings to break out of a layer of vermiculite than a layer of soil
• vermiculite absorbs water like a sponge and then releases it back into the soil as needed

Perlite:

• gives plant roots greater access to oxygen
• promotes drainage
• helps aerates
• alters the structure of the soil in a beneficial way
• no nutrient or mineral benefits
• holds water within the tiny crevices and releases it back into he soil as needed

Which to use depends entirely on the soil you want to add it to. Both can improve soil condition. Both can break-up a heavy clay soil. Perlite helps with drainage if that is a problem…for heavy rains, perlite will help the water drain through the soil vs the soil becoming water logged without perlite. Vermiculite is about 30 – 40% more expensive than perlite.

If I was working with a heavy soil, or a compacted soil, I would use both. If that soil was lacking in mineral content I would use a bit more vermiculite. If I was planting something that needed watering only weekly or even longer, like established raspberries or blackberries, I would use mostly vermiculite. If I was watering every day, especially strawberries or blueberries, I would a perlite. It all goes back to soil type and soil health.

I like perlite for potting soil when starting my seeds. I like vermiculite for the first up-potting. For a first time planting in this native soil of ours I go with perlite. Next couple of times I plant in the same place in our native soil I usually throw in vermiculite if the previous season with the perlite was successful.

In soil that is already rich in organic matter in an area that gets lots of rain that might soak the ground I would use perlite and stay away from vermiculite.

About 15 years ago I wanted to plant some decorative trees in some seriously compact sandy soil. I was smart enough to know I didn’t know how to go about it. I talked to an arboriculturist and he recommended to use a combination of soil amendments that included vermiculite. But, he told me to use a “coarse” or “large” vermiculite; the granules are about 10 times the size of the fine that most of us use in the garden. Man oh man…it was amazing!!

I use “fine” in the garden and for up-potting. But remember, I use mostly raised beds in the garden and that soil is rich in organic matter and already has some perlite in it when I made the soil. If you want to learn how I made the soil for my raised beds < click here >

Q & A Time…Ask me a question or send me a message…

 2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed.
I may receive compensation from advertised/mentioned products on this website.
See Content Use Policy for more information.