aspenhill's blog: Bare Root Plants

Monday
The 'Seascape' bare root strawberry plants were delivered in the mail a few days ago. I unpacked them, soaked them, and then potted them up in the pockets of the vertical Greenstalk planter. These bare root strawberries from Park Seed are much more robust than the ones I picked up a few weeks ago from Tractor Supply and Lowes. I've always been skeptical of those bare roots sold at the big box stores. I always wonder how long they've been sitting in that packaging. Those other strawberries aren't doing much of anything yet. I will be very curious to see how they do over time and how they compare to the new ones from mail order that I just planted.

In an effort to finish what I started, I spent about an hour moving each planted tier of the two Greenstalk planters from the greenhouse area to the back patio, and then assembling them. Each tier holds 1 cubic foot of potting soil and I had already watered them before I decided to move them. Dumb on my part - it made them pretty heavy. I ended up loading three at a time in the tractor bucket which made it easier than doing them one at a time in the wheelbarrow. Still heavy to lift in and out of the bucket, but a lot less trips back and forth than if I had been using the wheelbarrow. It is always something though - climbing on and off that tractor is pretty cumbersome for me. The assembly of the Greenstalk planters was straightforward, but after I was finished and took a look at the results, I realized that the back patio has a slight slope for drainage run-off so the planters have a slight lean to them. I should have put something underneath to level them up before I started stacking the tiers of top of one another. I know it will drive me nuts, so tomorrow I'll probably disassemble them, level the base, and then reassemble them.

A few weeks ago I also decided to try some of those bare roots that Costco always sells this time of year. I purchased two boxes of Old Fashioned Bleeding Hearts and one box of Christmas Ferns. I potted them up soon after purchase and have been checking on them every day since. I am starting to see the slight beginnings of growth on the Bleeding Hearts but not anything with the Christmas Ferns.

Growing from bare roots is an experiment for me. I think the strawberries from mail order will do ok, and if I decide to grow other fruits from bare root next year, it will be from a reliable mail order source - not what you get in the big box stores. Costco bare root perennials may just work out. If so, I'll definitely try more again next year.

The weather was really nice again today. Two days in a row - must be a record I got a little sunburn on my face and arms, wasn't really expecting that. Mike was in and out multiple times today, only here for 15 minutes or so before heading back out, but in one of those short times here he dug holes for the two shrubs, a deutzia and a camellia, from Wilson Brothers that I needed to get in the ground. I swear, what he can do effortlessly in 10 minutes would take me hours. Oh lordy, how I wish he loved to garden

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