Fragaria (Strawberry) Stolons (Runners)

For folks who know little about plant propagation or the way some plants reproduce, here is one way strawberries can produce mini plantlets that are clones from the parent plant.

Off to its side is a baby strawberry plant which has started to situate itself  about 8 inches away from the original plant.

Long tendril like stems called stolons emerge from the base of the parent plant and meander over the surface of the soil (or rocks) looking for a place to grow on its own. First by starting to produce a leaf at a joint, a fair enough distance from the parent plant.

Remove any smaller babies and long stolon stems. They will just take energy away from the plant you want to establish.

If you look carefully at this joint (node) you'll see tiny roots pointing downward to the soil surface. This is the start of a whole new plant - attached by an "umbilical" cord of sorts.

There are two ways you can establish the new plant. 1) Just allowing the plant to find its own way and rooting itself, leaving it until next season.

Or...

2) Cutting it from the parent plant right now, once more than one leaf is present and planting it in an ideal location for the rest of its life. If you want to advance the growing, plant it into a container for a couple of weeks to get a better root mass before planting it out in the garden.

Here, I just situated the baby plant in a location free of competition; it has good light and ample space to flourish.

You can even grow strawberries in containers and let the stolons droop over the container, making a hanging basket. Unfortunately, the stolon plants won't produce any strawberries this season.

Perhaps you are familiar with the common house plant called: Spider Plant Chlorophytum comosum.  This same principal can be applied to this plant as well. Their stolons are just the same as the strawberry.

NOTE: Two aspects of stolons that are negative: 1) they do remove essential energy from the parent plant; 2) you get plants establishing everywhere.

When you see stolons and flowers on the strawberry plant, much of the plant's energy will go to the stolon and not the fruit if they are left to themselves. If you've ever gone strawberry picking as I have, you'll notice many of the strawberry plants have had their stolons removed for this purpose. Nothing is better than having sweet, juicy strawberries. Keep some of the stolons for next year's crop, but do remove the rest of them throughout the harvest season.

Decorative Vegetable and Herb Planter

I love planting in containers, because you can place them where ever a situation needs colour, or to maximize sunny areas in the garden.

Why plant just flowers? This year, instead of planting the usual annual assortment, we decided to fill this decorative container brimming with veggies and herbs.

36 inch concrete trough
First, we removed about a third of last year's soil and...

replenished it by adding 1/2 of composted sheep manure and....

 1/2 of black earth. Mixed thoroughly with the existing soil that had perlite. It's necessary to have vermiculite or perlite; this encourages proper drainage and root development. Otherwise the soil becomes hard and roots struggle.

We started by planting the tomatoes and their supports. These are heirloom and beefsteak tomatoes. The supports are somewhat unsightly at first, but once tomatoes arrive, the tomato foliage will camouflage the stakes.

Our desire was mainly for culinary purposes, but colour and texture was also considered.
#1  Dwarf Dill (12-20" tall)
#2  Variegated Oregano (trailer)

#3 Curly Red Lettuce
#4 Bright Lights Swiss Chard
#5 Dark Little Leaf Lettuce
(repeated on the left side)

We didn't over plant - spaced for adequate growth. However, there is still enough room, if one wishes to plant some annuals, in case one misses summer blooms. ;)

Will update on the growth and colouration. Can't wait to harvest too!

Our desire is to harvest every plant from this container, so it benefits the kitchen, our tummies and it'll have less waste going into the compost come autumn.

Update: here

Outdoor Christmas Urn Container - Natural

Here I made a pair of urns with natural items.

These urns span about 2 and 1/2 feet apart. A little more than 3 feet tall from the pot rim.

I used:

Have a look at some other designs here

• 3 birch stems
• 7 stems of dogwood
• white pine
• douglas fir
• western red cedar
• boxwood
• magnolia stems
• sumac seed pods
• seeded eucalyptus
• strobus (white pine) cones
• dried belani seed pods
• bronze vine balls
• dried bell cups
• 13" fibre liner
• sand to fill pot

Another pair:

These accents may look all natural, but the pomegranates are artificial.  Pretty good for artificial though. No squirrels will try to take these away! 

One of the funnest aspects of my job.

 In the above, I used:

• pomergranates
• strobus cones (with snow flakes)
• magnolia
• birch stems
• dogwood stems
• white pine boughs
• western red cedar boughs
• Ontario hemlock boughs
• burgundy seed pods
• oregonia

Materials all from Plant World Ltd. These urns are also available there. 

Outdoor Winter Container Designs

The first couple of frost hits is the sign to prepare for winter containers.

Some folks empty out their containers - soil and all to prepare for Christmas decorating. No, no.... I just snip off the tops of my annuals and the leggy stem bits that are left after a good frost. The soil with roots, as long as it's not frozen and not too woody, is an ideal medium to sustain evergreen boughs and cut stems for decorating.  If the soil has become frozen, bring it indoors overnight to thaw, or drench with boiling water to thaw out. The roots of your annuals help stabilize cut stems in place, when arranging.

 

Like the above demonstration class; if you're starting from scratch and you don't want to fill an entire urn or container, (or you can't keep a ceramic pot with soil overwinter) just use a smaller insert pot and fill with sand. In the above photo, we used 6-9inch fibre liners. When filled with sand, the sheer weight of sand will help to prop up the insert and will also freeze like an ice cube when in your decorative outer pot. Two great aspects regarding a smaller container: 1) the smaller the pot, the less materials needed and 2) the tighter the stems will be to withstand strong winter weather.

Materials needed:

• Pair of sharp pruners

• Comfortable pair of gloves that allow you to design with good tactile ability

• If you are working indoors, wear a bib or apron to avoid sap from coming in contact with your clothes

• At least 2-3 selections of evergreen boughs. (my preference is white pine, western cedar and boxwood, although you can use any kind).  For a 6 inch pot, 3 bundles will do.

• Leafy stems (magnolia, eucalyptus, boxwood, oregonia, holly, euonymus). 2 bundles ea.

• Colourful branches (dogwood, red willow, pussy-willow, birch stems, alder stems) 20 stems.

• Accent pieces: (cones, pomegranates, osage oranges, rose-hips, sumac pods, outdoor ornaments...etc). Minimum 7-10 pieces

•  If you are working with an insert, use sand and dampen it well enough to make sure it stays firm and holds moisture for the stems

To begin, decide on how decorative you want the urn. Sometimes, simpler is more attractive. Too much material and it becomes an eyesore. Here in the photo below, it seemed fitting to have a simple design given the ravine backdrop.

Here, I only used 3 items (white pine, red dogwood and some ivy).

Next, decide on the shape, height and position of your insert/container design. One trick to lessen the material used, is to design a flat sided container. These are great for containers that are propped up against a wall or backing on to something else. Accents and more expensive materials only need to be displayed at the front of these designs. You will need almost triple the amount of accents if you want a 360, all around arrangement.

Begin with the tallest boughs at the back, working and cutting your bough branches down slightly in size as you come to the front of the container. Be sure to make a fresh cut on ALL your bough branches. This allows the boughs to draw up whatever moisture they can during the winter - keeping them green.

With all around designs, you need to start with the tallest material (usually your stems, like dogwood) in the center. Working your way around the stems with filler - evergreen boughs. Once you get a sort of triangular shape, begin adding your accents to bulk up the design.

Pretty easy.

Water your urn inserts and or planters once every week. It may seem odd to water them in the winter, but it just maintains the green and keeps them looking fresh.

Here is a design from last year.

Check out these other designs

More here and here!