…are planted! I scored a big bunch of starts and made two beds in different parts of the garden, then I planted two long planters full. Last year, I made shuksan strawberry preserves with szechuan pepper. The recipe was my faltering attempt at a no-pectin French-style preserve, à la Christine Ferber, and it turned out a bit too syrupy, but still unfalteringly delicious.
I thought I’d try seascape strawberries instead of shuksan this year. Both get great reviews, but frankly I forgot which one tasted better at the market last year. My last attempt at growing strawberries was soggy and antridden, so we shall see what happens in the coming months. Stawberries like acid soil, which we’re all about here in the Willamette Valley, but they like sandy, well drained soil, which we are not.
And did I mention my raspberry bare-roots are in? Heritage, Meeker, Amity, Newburgh. My yard is the only yard in the entire city that is somehow miraculously free of our most invasive weed, himalayan blackberries, so I responded by planting bramble fruit, yay!
We’ve had a week of really nice weather with only spots of rain. I know spring isn’t officially here yet, but it feels so incredibly good to be out there amending the soil in my back tenth of an acre and planting leetle yumyums like the strawberries and peas.
Culinaria Eugenius 