In the garden

[dl meckes]

This week the garden is featuring some lettuce. It is the first week of the strawberry season and our first harvest was about four quarts. We shared a few with some neighbors and gave my dad one of those quarts. The next harvest will probably be over the weekend and the berries we have won't last until then...

We started with eight plants three years ago. We could have started with four plants and we would have been fine. Instead of useless ground cover the strawberries provide us with an ethereal experience. The sun shines on our backs as we pick our berries, warm and full of juice, unlike their hollow store-bought sisters.

Strawberries are extremely easy to grow. You put them in a sunny place and you hope it rains enough in May and June so you don't have to water them. When they send new runners out, try and direct them so they don't go too crazy. In autumn, we put the ground maple leaves on top of the bed. That's it. Very inexpensive. Very healthy. Exceedingly rewarding.