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.

Update - Decorative Vegetable and Herb Planter

I love demonstrating plants growing. It's been about 2 weeks since we planted this container in our last post: Decorative Vegetable and Herb Planter.

Once this photo was taken, we harvested a bowl full of lettuce, leaving still plenty more for later this week.

Unfortunately, we underestimated the tomatoes growing as fast as they have. It shades a lot of the underplantings. The dwarf dill had to be removed, as it was starting to rot out from lack of sun.

All in all, the growth has been so satisfying. We've not used any fertilizers. The weather has co-operated and we are enjoying the harvest!

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

Ants on Peony Flower Buds

One question I get asked every year: How can I get rid of the ants on my peony flower buds?

Some years, I've seen flower buds so full of ants, you could hardly see the bud.

Answer:  DON'T!

This is a common occurrence. I have heard there is a direct correlation to buds opening because the ants eat the sappy, sugary coating that the bud petals exude. Not sure this is the case, as I've seen peony buds open successfully without ants on them (for example, at the garden centre). At any rate, it's VERY common and the ants don't harm the flower buds.

Photo from years ago... sniff, sniff - my old garden.

Conclusion:  Don't worry about ants. Just admire their harvesting technique and embrace the peony season with hopefully an extended bloom time. Last year's warmth made the bloom season rather short. They withered quickly in the heat...