00:10 Intro
00:45 Dewberries
01:26 Strawberry patch is underperforming
03:46 What to plant and what to do in the yard in late winter
Veggie planting dates for the Wasatch Front
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1719&context=extension_curall
Show Transcript:
Hello everyone my name is Taun Beddes, and this is the Homegrown Horticulture podcast. Today I thought we would take some questions from folks about horticulture and gardening from social media.
This podcast is intended for those that live in the Intermountain West an area that's often neglected and forgotten about by the national green industry and plant breeders due to our unique climate and lower population than much of the rest of the country.
So, let's go ahead and get to our first question from Kathy. She asks, my mother fed us what she called dewberries but they had a firm core inside. Do you know what variety they may have been?
Well, dewberries are related to blackberries but they're generally smaller but less seedy, and they also have a more tart flavor to them, and so you can buy dewberries online. I do not know what particular species I don't know what your grandmother had, but they're definitely out there (for purchase) and the flavor is very similar to blackberries but just more tart.
The next question is from Brad and Deborah. They write, could you address revamping a strawberry patch. My particular strawberries are June bearer, but over the last several years they are very small. Should I replace half the patch this year and half next year in order to keep having berries? When's the best time to plant strawberries?
As to why your strawberries are declining in productivity: strawberries have different pests and diseases and especially the diseases build over the years. And so, strawberries are at their most productive when they are between about 3 and 6 or 3 and 7 years old, and then after that they can just gradually decline (as far as fruit production). Because there's a buildup of diseases, especially viruses, that often times are not visible in the leaves. The result is declining production.
I would recommend actually starting a brand-new strawberry patch with brand new strawberries that are verified virus free. When you purchase strawberries online or from local garden centers there should be a sign or a tag with the berries (plants) saying that they are certified virus indexed or virus free. The strawberry producer actually hires a lab to test their strawberries to make sure that they're disease-free when you purchase them. The reason you want to put them into a brand-new patch is because there's a buildup in the soil of diseases. If you put new plants right back there again there they will be overwhelmed much more quickly than if you would put them in new soil: somewhere else s a where you've not been growing strawberries. I would recommend turning (the former patch) into a flower bed or a vegetable patch so that it remains productive and pretty. Additionally, strawberries are usually available in late winter to early spring or as established plants through May through early June. The bare-root strawberries are fine and easy to plant and they usually establish well, but if you would prefer, you can wait for strawberries established in flats and these usually do all right. Thank you again for that question.
The final question of the week is from Teresa. She asks, I'm new to Utah, and I wonder what we can be planting now besides pansies. Also, what yard and garden prep should we be doing.
I think that's a relevant question, and there's been lots of people out wanting to get their gardens going. So it is now March 8th when I'm recording this particular question, and we're still maybe a week or so early before you really want to start putting out cool-season vegetable crops. And now for the garden planting dates as far as vegetables, I want to put out there that the planting times I'm giving is for an average last frost date of around May 10th to May 15th, and so if you live in a colder Mountain Valley or an area colder than this, you can adjust accordingly. And so, if you are average last frost was around the first of June then you would push these dates back about two weeks as far as planting now, but mean more toward the middle of the month. Artichokes asparagus broccoli, Brussels sprouts, are some things with cabbage, onions, peas, radishes, rhubarb, spinach, and turnips can all be started around mid-March, given the weather is acceptable. I would suggest getting a cheap kitchen thermometer, the kind that you kind you put into meat to check the temperature, that has a probe on the end. and stick it into the soil where you're going to be planting. This is because the soil needs to be around 50° F minimally so that you can get those (cool season) vegetables up. Many garden centers are getting in trees and shrubs right now. They're dormant. A lot of these come out of the Pacific Northwest, and so if you live someplace like Boise the Colorado Front Range or the Wasatch Front, you can go to your local garden centers and pick those up and plant them. Those same plants and trees should be becoming available and colder mountain valleys also. And as they become available, as long as they're dormant you can plant. I should caution (you) that if garden centers are getting plant material that is actively growing, you generally want to wait on planting those until your danger of frost is gone, or it's warmed up enough that, if we do get a sudden frost, that you can reasonably cover those things. And so that's what we can be planting now. It's still a bit too early for pre-emergent on lawns, and it is too early to fertilize. Will hit that in the next week or two.
So, thank you again for listening. This is the home-grown Horticulture podcast. The Homegrown Horticulture podcast is a production of Utah State University Extension. The show music was composed and performed by Savannah Peterson, a USU student horticulturist, and it is used by permission. Have a great week
