Making a strawberry tower

One of the first steps to help my garden recover after its last disaster was to start propagating the strawberries. I lost my main crop completely, but I was very fortunate that all of the back up strawberries survived, with them I can very easily replace all the lost plants.

I need all the strawberry runners I can get

I'm in luck, because most of them are giving out plenty of nice runners. I only have to guide them and then separate into the big strawberry planters.

Lucky me they are a lot of healthy ones growing

Now I only had one plant of each variety and there is a risk to lose some if anything happens. Also, I need some time to make sure there are no more grubs and to renew the soil from the big strawberry planters, so the first thing I am doing is filling all the gaps in the strawberry tower. It has been quite easy as all the runners seem to be just the perfect length to reach all the other levels. I am sure the tower will be full very soon.

The tower is already filling up

My only worry is that there will be enough runners to fill everything before the cold comes and the strawberries go into their dormant state. I need at least 24 plants to fill every gap available and so far I only have 6. I will add a bit of fertilizer to help them keep spreading, but other than that I can only wait and cross my fingers.

A perfect container for growing strawberries in the balcony

As you know, I have lost my strawberry twice patch so far, once to some unknown disease and other time to beetles. So, to avoid having to buy everything from scratch again, I decided I must have some sort of back up strawberry patch. The only problem is that my little garden hardly can fit more plants and having duplicates for six varieties of berries takes a lot of space. Fortunately I found a perfect container to fit all of my berries in a very compact way.

A great container for growing strawberries

While I was browsing around the 100yen store (dollar store) I found this amazing planter. It is a stackable three way pot. It is great, just the perfect size and depth. I can set my strawberries the same way as in a traditional strawberry jar pot, but because this one can be taken apart it is much easier to maintain. Also, I can shuffle around the levels to assure each plant gets lots of sun when they need it.

I can stack them and keep all my strawberries in a little corner

It is always good having a back up for valuable plants and this is just the planter I needed. Some of the strawberry varieties are hard to get or a bit expensive. I will save a lot of troubles and costs in case something bad happens (it already did, but more about that later).

Now I only need to make some tags

The next step is to keep organized, I need to make some good labels and tag which strawberry is which one.

Growing a grape in a pot

A couple weeks ago I went to a small trip and I was very happy to see they had a couple grapes fruiting in small pots. It vas fun to see them in real life because so far I had only seen them like that in photos. It gives me even more hope for mine.

My goal, fruiting a grape in a container

Hopefully next year mine will be big enough to fruit like this, I will keep posted on how it does.

If you want to know more about growing a grapevine in a container, check my guide here

My pineapple

Back at Mexico city, when my grandfather was still with us, he used to grow an amazing roof top balcony. He and my grandma grew a lot of plants. They had roses, chilies, strawberries, grapes and many other great things. Actually I started growing strawberries and grapes here because eating them at his garden Is a very happy memory of my childhood. However I think the most amazing and surprising plant he ever grew was a pineapple. Mexico city is a very cold place, it is high in the mountains and is not the most sunny city. Also, even though it doesn't snow, the winters are very cold, a couple degrees under cero. So growing a pineapple there fully outdoors is very hard. I still remember how some people said that it would not be able to grow any fruit, but in the end it did, and it was delicious.

I started growing two pineapple tops

Then, along with my grape and my strawberries, I want to grow a pineapple in memory of my grandpa. I would feel very proud if I succeed.

Pineapples are a bit expensive here to be buying them often, so I have limited chances. But lucky me I got my hands on a really good one a month ago, and another one this week. I have both growing directly into soil in small pots. Hopefully the hot weather will let them grow some roots. So far they seem to be well. The one from a month ago seems like is rooting already, but it is still very soon to tell.

Hopefully they will grow well

I had already tried growing one last autumn, but the winter was to much for it and it didn't make it. I am hoping that this time, since I am starting them much earlier they will gain enough strength to survive. If they do, I really have no idea what will I do with two grown pineapples, but I still wanted to give it a try. Growing pineapples from tops is a long commitment, so there will be plenty of time to decide.

And give delicious pineapples in the future

I will be posting how they do, wish me luck

A visit to an "all you can eat" strawberry farm in japan いちご狩 食べ放題

Here in japan, they love having "all you can eat" (tabehodai 食べ放題) trips to different farms. They have it for almost everything: strawberries, grapes, blueberries, tangerines, cherries, melon, peaches, sweet potato and many others. It is really fun to see the trips being organized and promoted all around the year as every fruit or plant reaches their season. This time of the year is the season for strawberries (greenhouse raised of course). I was lucky enough to join in one of these ichigo gari (いちご狩) trips this week to a strawberry farm.

I take "All you can eat strawberries" as a personal challenge

For the tour they first give a small explanation about the farm and the berries, and then they tell you the rules of the buffet. They are usually set with a 30 minutes limit and like in most places, you can only eat there, not taking any out. After the explanation they lead us to the green house room where the strawberries are so we can start eating.

To get there we walked trough a greenhouse maze, with big rooms of plants connected with smaller tunnels and little hallways all protected with plastic from the outside weather. I was lucky because our room was on the far side of the farm, so I got to see a bit more of what else they had. On that same farm they had blueberries and grapes, which I am sure they will host their own "all you can eat" (tabehodai 食べ放題) when their season reaches.

It was good learning how the professionals raise strawberries

It was very interesting to see the layout and the arrangement of the greenhouse. As you can see on the photos they plant leeks and similar plants at the borders, probably to protect against aphids and other pests. They also had a beehive on each room, but the bees seem very mild and only mind their own. Other thing is that they water from underneath, so the fruits are very clean, no need to rinse at all before eating.

They had a lot of plants, and many ripe and ready to pick strawberries

Another interesting thing have I noticed here is that many ichigo gari (いちご狩) farms have their plants growing at chest level to help people pick them easier. The one I went, though, was not of this kind. This is because is the strawberries there are not only intended for the "all you can eat", they are a big farm that sends their fruit all over japan, so they grow them from the ground to allow for bigger crops.

They were delicious, I hope mines will be as good

It was a lot of fun, I got full to almost exploit of very delicious strawberries and I also got to see how the professionals handle the plants. I hope my little strawberry baskets will give fruit like this one when their time comes. They were delicious!

How to grow a grape vine in a container

Spring is almost here, and to take the most advantage I have prepared a series of how to's for all things gardening, with special tips for all beginner gardeners and for those of you who only count with very little space for growing. To start, I want to post about how to grow a grape vine in a container. I had a lot of great feedback on the day of the world garden carnival with my post about my own grape vine, and also I got a lot of mails about people who wanted to know more about how to grow them like that.

Is very easy to have your own grape vine

Growing a grape in a pot is very easy to do and also very rewarding. There is just a couple things to consider: You have to make some planning and later keep the plant in check or else it can grow wildly and get out of control. Here is how I do it. I hope you find it useful!

This small tutorial contains the basic care of a grapevine. Even if you are not growing in a container you will get a lot of benefits from following it

If you have further questions don't hesitate to leave a comment, send me a mail or a tweet.

How to grow a grapevine in a container

First a little check on the plant. Grape vines are very hardy are perennial plants, very nice and easy to grow in containers. They forgive a small dry spell and they can do well on poor soil. If they are trained properly they can take very little space. Grapevines are great for making a natural barrier or providing some extra roof in a pergola outside. And of course, the best of all is that they give very delicious fruit! There are hundreds of varieties of grapevines, and they can take a very wide range of climates. So chances are, if you want to grow them, there must be one perfectly suitable for you.

You will need

One thing to remember though is that new grapevines take a little time to give fruit. So if you want to have one in your garden make sure you are in for the long haul. Grapes give fruit on second year wood. This means that the new branches that grow one season will be the ones giving fruit next season. Also, is important to remember finding an appropriate site to grow your vine; Grape vines appreciate having full-sun. Having a lot of sun will help them bare more fruit.

Choosing your grape

Before anything you have to choose the type of grape you want to grow. Be sure to pick one that is adapted for your climate, that way the plant will have a much better chance of growing nicely. To make the picking of a variety easier, you can ask yourself a couple questions. What do you want to do with the vine?. Are you are after the fruit or just the leaves? What will you do with the fruit? Do you want to have a red or a green one? Once you have decided on those things you can ask in your local nursery or garden center for one that matches your description or just do a quick search online.

Pione grapes from japan

In my case I have a pione, it is a seedless purple table grape, it has an amazing flavor and the fruits get to grow really big. It is one of the favorites to enjoy here in japan.

The best time for buying new grape vines is around autumn, right after the harvests. That will give the plant a chance to grow its roots and get established in its new house before the dormant period.

Step 1 Planting your grape and the initial pruning

Now that you have your grape is time to plant it on a pot. If you need some instructions to help you, be sure to check the post about how to plant in a container in here. The process is basically the same as with most common plants. Get a nice layer of drainage for your container and some rich black good soil. Grapes can take having poor soil, but they do much better if they are feed properly. Be sure to separate the roots when you are planting. Grapevines like having a chance to stretch their roots, this will help them develop and settle much more quickly. Remember to put a layer of mulch to keep the weeds away and keep the temperature of the pot balanced.

When your grape is set, it is time for a little pruning

Once you have planted your grape keep it growing freely until the season ends. This will allow it to grow strong roots and establish in its pot. If you got it early in the season it might get a bit messy with all the new growth, so you can do a small pruning during summer to keep it small.

When winter arrives your grape will drop its leafs and enter a dormant state. During this period it will need less resources, so be sure not to over water. By late winter, after the big frost but a bit before it starts growing again, it is time to the first big pruning.

The best way to prune is to make a diagonal cut away of the bud, just a little over the same. Also, you can cut right into the middle of the joints of the cane. This last technique can work very well, but you have to make sure to avoid damaging the bud, which is sometimes tricky.

The goal here is to trim your plant so only the two lower healthy buds remain. The bud is a small protrusion growing out of the trunk. It looks a bit like a mole or a small pimple growing from the bark. From these is where the new branches will grow.

Step 2 Building support

To help your vine grow neatly and under control you have to provide a structure for the vine to climb into. A sturdy trellis or wood frame will work well. You can form a small arch, a circle, make a stair shape, etc. There are many possible shapes you can try, let your imagination guide you.

Be sure to give it a strong structure for support

Depending on the size you grow, the trunk plus the leafs and the fruit can get a bit heavy, therefore the only requirement is that whatever structure you have must be strong enough to hold the weight of your vine. Also, make it with something that will last many years, since you will have it growing there long time.

Step 3 Training your vine

The next spring after you did the heavy pruning, one main branch will develop from each of the buds available. The task here is to keep them growing on the shape you want. You can progressively tie your vine to the trellis as it grows, to maintain the form. Keep it on check regularly, especially during spring, because the vine can grow very fast.

Keep your vine neat and tidy

Because of the space restrictions on a container is best to keep only one or two branches growing (more if your container is big enough) thus is best to keep only the stronger branches. Prune away any runners that sprout from the core canes to give all the strength to the main vines. Once that your grape vine has reached the size you want, you can cut the tip of the vine to prevent it from growing further. The best fruit is given approximately from the sixth to the twelfth fruiting bud, so you can use this as a reference for the size of your grapevine.

After the season ends, and the vine enters its dormant state once more, you will have a skeleton that will be the main structure of your plant.

Right now, this is the step my grape is in. It can be a bit of effort to keep the vines in check, but I am sure the results will be worth it.

Step 4 Setting the cycle

This is the most crucial part of growing a grape vine. In order to keep the plant healthy and giving the most fruit over the years to come you must prune it periodically. Also, since fruit is bare in second year canes you must prepare one new fruiting branch every year. To help you do this is best to make a cycle of renewal, where every year a couple new branches will grow and substitute the old canes from last season.

Making a cycle of renewal will guarantee the best fruit

For this, every year, you have to prune away all the new runners and branches that grow from the top canes. Leave only a couple strong and healthy branches growing from the base and train them to grow into your structure as you did the year before. Also, every year, at the end of the season, prune away the old wood. All of those branches that gave fruit that year have to be taken away. The idea is that those new branches will substitute the last season growth as the new fruiting canes for next year.

Once this cycle has developed, you can continue it for many years. That way you will always have the best fruit from your grapevine and it will grow into a very nice and healthy plant.

Extra tips for growing your grapevine

Make sure to prune it carefully

• During the fruiting season is a good idea to prune away any weak flower buds. This will help the plant concentrate its energy on the best flowers and give the best fruit. You should also take away any weak grapes growing in every bunch. There are a lot of possible grapes with every flower bud, if you take the smaller the rest will benefit and develop more and it won’t be noticeable.


• Grapes are amazing plants, they grow very easily even without much care, but is always good to feed them a bit of fertilizer around the spring to help them develop new canes, and also during the height of their fruiting season to help them grow more delicious grapes.


• Birds love having grapes as much as we do, so you might need to protect your grapes from them. Depending how much problems you have keeping the birds from eating all your fruit, you can use several methods. You can try small reflective material hanging or use a net to protect the vines.


• The new vines in a grape plant are very flexible and easy to manage; you can try making shapes or patterns while you are training them in their planter.

Now remember, this is only one particular way of growing a grape in a container. There are a lot of other methods shapes, techniques and arrangements you can try. I have seen grapes growing and covering a whole balcony and have also seen a little small bonsai grape. You should try to see what fits best for your needs, and don’t be shy to experiment. After all, that is what gardening is about.

And that is how you grow a grape vine!

If you what to know more about growing grapes and other container gardening matters be sure leave a comment, send me a mail or a tweet.

Have a lot of fun growing your grape vine!

New everbearing strawberry for my garden

And yet again, I had another gardener compulsive shopping disorder episode. Last week I went to the garden center just to see what was in store for the winter.

My new everbearing strawberry

Since winter is coming, they don’t have as much flowers anymore. However, they did had a bunch of plum and cherry blossoms trees getting ready for spring, and some winter tulips too. I was almost going to buy some, but I managed to convince myself not to. I already have some tulips in my garden, so I can wait a bit. And the cherry trees are just to big for my small balcony. However, there was one thing I could not resist. They had some everbearing strawberries for sale! I just had to get me some.

From what I know, the everbearing varieties are a bit hard to get here in Japan. Last time, after loosing my crazy always blooming strawberries to beetles, I tried to get some more of the everbearing kind. But, even when I look on more than 10 places, I could not find them anywhere. I found that, here in Japan, summer blooming varieties are much more coveted than everbearing, so it's very unusual to find the plant for sale. I was also surprised to find out that mines where not really true everbearing, they just had a lucky mutation that gave them that characteristic.

And this one is still blooming growing fruit!

So, when I saw this one for sale, I had to buy it. And even more after finding they only had three plants left.

I hope it grows well on my garden. I still have to find it a place. I think I will put it in the same pot with the others, but I am hesitant in case something happens and some disease wipes away all the strawberry pot like last time. You can never be to careful with your strawberries.

Blueberries and autumn color in my garden

I got a bit busy this week so I will merge my Friday and Sunday posts into one today.

Ever since I started my garden, I have been wanting to get some type of berry bush, but because I didn't know much about them, and because I couldn't decide what type of berries I wanted, I didn't got any until now.

I chose blueberries after a nice trip to a ブルーベリー食べ放題「たべほうだい」（all you can eat）farm this summer, where we got a nice basket of very delicious berries. Also because, after some research, I found out is easy enough to grow some blueberries in containers, if you get them the proper environment.

Delicious blueberries!

So, finally, I got two nice looking plants at the garden center sale where I got the flowers for blooming day. I already set them to be on their own pot and hopefully they will grow well next year and start giving some berries soon. I will write about what I learned on how to take care of blueberries later, so keep posted.

My new blueberry plants

Along with the blueberries, one more thing also come to my little garden in japan. Some nice autumn colors.

All this past months I have been seeing a lot of very beautiful autumn photos from gardens around the world. They show amazing shades of yellows, reds, silvers, browns and more. I must admit, every time I saw so many beautiful images and plants, I felt a bit left out. Because my little container garden in a balcony doesn’t really have much foliage, and very few of my plants show much changes for autumn, I wasn’t expecting to have much colors for this season. Even my little maple was in bad shape after this summer vacation drought, so I didn't thought it would have much either.

The blueberry had a nice tone of red for autumn

Luckily, with the coming of the blueberries, I got a small hint of red. Some of the lower leaves were already changing, which I thought they look very nice and I even comment on it to the plant (yes, I do speak to the plants some times, I got it from my grandmother, call me crazy but I think it works). That little comment must have hit the pride of the other plants, because that same week some of the leaves of the maple started to change, the same for the grape, which started to get a nice hint of yellow. Just like that autumn had finally arrived to my little balcony garden in japan; Is always so nice when you get a nice surprise from your garden.

My grape got a nice hint of yellow

My little japanese maple, a bit roughed up,
but changing to beautiful colors

Now talking about the blog carnival. Remember it starts the 30th of this month. All you have to do to participate is make a post about your favorite flower, vegetable, bush, tree, cactus, shrub, herb, moss, algae, fern, fruit, root, creeper, climber, grass, weed, bulb or any other plant you love (or more than one if you prefer).

I will post a small widget here that will allow you to input a link to your blog or website. Send me a mail if you need more information. And have a great weekend!

Strawberries in my little garden in japan

If you visit this blog regularly, your probably know strawberries are one of my favorite plants to have, but also one of the most tricky to raise for me.

One of the strawberry pots in my little garden in japan

After some problems with beetles and little setbacks earlier this year, I found myself replacing my strawberry plants. Luckily it all finally seems to be going ok now. The only thing is that, I ended up with so many strawberries that I don't even know what to do with them (not that I complain).

Here are the strawberries varieties I currently have on my little garden in Japan. I found the information about them in the charts at garden center and also doing a little extra reseach.

女峰 （にょほう）Nyohou
From the first replacement batch, and currently on quarantine because the others on that batch got diseased. It got a bit down for some time, but it seems like it will make it. I will get a new shoot out of it and raise that one as the main just to be sure. It is already growing new leafs, so I think it will be ok. This is the same type as my old strawberries; I didn't realize this until after I had bought it. They have a good balance between sweet and acid and they give a big yield with a nice shape and color.

びっくりイチゴ Bikkuriichigo, 宝交早生 Houkouwase
and ひがり小町 Hikarikochou strawberry

宝交早生　(ほうこうわせ) Houkouwase
One of the most hardy of the bunch. It has a soft texture, with a bit of acid taste. It is supposed to be very easy to grow, so I hope it will thrive nicely. It also has the characteristic that it starts giving fruit early and its season last a bit longer.

びっくりイチゴ　Bikkuriichigo
The name translates something like "surprising strawberry". The main characteristic of this one is its size but it is also very sweet. It can grow as big as 7 cm. I got it because it will be fun to see how big it gets, doesn't matter if I don’t get many.

アイベリー　Love berry
I have tree of this kind. One is a little shoot I rescued from the first batch that got diseased; The others are from the second batch. They came in the same little pot, but I separated them to give them a better chance. It is one of the bests in terms of flavor. Very sweet, good size, nice aroma and a very rich texture. I will treat this one as my main crop. I hope it grows well in my garden.

My three アイベリー Love berry strawberry

章姫　(あきひめ）　Akihime
Like the love berry, this one also have very nice flavor and size, but it has a different texture. While the love berry has a firm flesh, this one is more on the soft side.

ひがり小町　（ひがりこちょう）　Hikarikochou
A well balanced strawberry, nice shape and color with a lot of sweetness and a strong flavor. It is also very hardy and disease resistant. Because it is one of the most resistant and balanced, this will be my wild card in case something happens.


Also, asking a strawberry guru from the garden center, I found out something about my old ever bearing. Turns out that it was not really one, it was just a lucky struck. Some of the strawberry varieties here in japan (like Akihime, Kunouwase, Nyohou and others from the same family line), sometimes develop ever bearing characteristics. It happens on one or two plants of each fifty or so. What happens is that they just start giving fruit whenever they feel like it, regardless of the season.

They must have some ever bearing genes that kick in now and then, but it is not something planned, is pure luck. I find it to be a very funny trait. I will double cross my fingers and toes so I get lucky again or at least try and get a hold of one of those if I see one ever for sale.

女峰 Nyohou Strawberries from my July harvest

On a different topic. I got some great response about the blog carnival. Based on your comments it will be about a favorite or special plant in your garden. I am not sure if I want to try to make the carnival post a monthly thing, I know for sure I would get tangled with the dates or I might get busy with school. But, I do want to have it now and then. This way more of your favorites will be able to showcase. Because ,like Green Lane Allotments said in the last post's comments, picking only one, it's like asking a parent to choose only one favorite child!

Maybe having one per season, or every couple of months will be ok. That way you get to show your beautiful maple or ginko in November, tulips in April, strawberries in June, etc., etc.

For this first one, because we are starting and also because it is a bit of the down season in gardening, lets make it about any favorite you have. It can be either your favorite for that month or any other month, other year, other life, you pick. Just choose one that you really like.

Now for the date, should it be Sunday 28 or Tuesday 30? Please let me know in the comments.

Happy gardening!

Help! my strawberries are dying

Help! my strawberries are sick and I don’t know what I can do.

Like I said before, of all my plants my strawberries are the ones that surprise me the most. The problem is that it's not always a good surprise. This past few days the strawberries started to get a bit down during the day, they acted like if they lacked water, but I have been taking good care of them. I wonder if is a fungus, or beetles on the roots. I hope it's nothing serious, and they will recover soon. However, they don't seem to be getting better at all.

Today they really got down

Today they really flopped. They went down and stay like that. I took out the one that seemed almost dead to check for any problems on the root. It does not look good. The root is all gone, almost all black or rotten and almost no white healthy roots remain. It doesn't look like a pest, so i am guessing is a fungus

This root doesn't look good at all

I wonder what can I do. I hope they survive.
Anyone have an advice?

Strawberries in August!!

This weekend I harvested the first strawberry of the august batch!

my strawberry harvest of August!

I don’t know why, but my strawberries just keep on giving fruit. I was surprised when they gave a batch in November, but now they have been giving since may and again now in august.

I think they might be the ever bearing type, but the label they come with says it is a June bearing. Also they continue to give out many runners, I have to cut some out every week, and ever bearing are supposed to give very few runners. So it's very confusing.

this strawberry was getting big in mid august

Last month after the July harvest I thought that was the end. The plant had given out a very generous batch of several branches and then stopped giving flowers. But this time I noticed some new flowers were about to come out early august. Another week and they were at full bloom. I artificially pollinated the first flower and let the others be as nature intended.

Last week that one strawberry started to ripen and the rest started to get some volume. And finally this last weekend I harvested successfully that one strawberry. It had a very funny pear shape, very different to the ones I got this July.

Pear strawbery

Now the rest of the batch doesn’t look like it will grow more, and they didn't got enough pulp, so I guess I should have pollinated those as well. But well I'm very happy with my one pear shaped strawberry harvest, it was very sweet, one of the sweetest of this year.

I wouldn't be shocked if the plant will try to fruit some more this fall. Like i said before, of all my plants it is the one that continue to surprise me every time

It was very sweet

My grape

Back in my country I have seen many houses with a little wooden deck that oversights the garden and has a grapevine growing along the pergola. I, of course, have always wanted to have a house like that.

Pione grapes from japan

Now I live in japan, in a small apartment on the tenth floor. It's very different from my dream house. But that doesn't mean I can't have a grapevine in my garden.

I learned something very important about growing grapevines from my grandfather. Grapevines can thrive on containers. He used to have one growing on a little bucket on his roof garden, and he had it fruiting many years.

My grandfather past away some years ago, but I always maintain the memory of him working on his garden smiling and offering me some fruits (he grew so many things, including some very delicious strawberries which also inspired me for my garden). So in his memory I wanted to have some grape and I wanted to do it well. I researched on how to grow grapes and set my path to the garden center. There I found it hard to decide which kind to choose and had trouble with japanese kanji, so I wrote down some names and headed back to the internet to look up the Japanese names.

I learned a lot, about grapes, how to grow them, how they grow them in japan, and all the different species.

At the end I decided to set for a pione it is a crossbreed between a Kyoho (a Japanese type) and some other. This kind of grapes are very sweet, very big and have no seeds. Here I have seen they sell them at the luxury fruit food stores. So I think they must be very good, I hope mines can reach that hi-quality.

Also here in japan I had visited some grape farms, they have a very peculiar way of taking care of them wrapping them on a paper bag while on the vine to protect them. I want to try their method with mines.

I visited this pione grape farm last year

I got my plant this august as only one branch so I have to wait for next season to see if I can get some fruit, but I am very hopeful. From the moment I set the plant on its pot it started growing roots like crazy, some of them even reached the edges of the pot and overflown a little, and it is the biggest pot on my garden. I think that with such a nice start it will have a lot of strength for next year. Let's see how it goes.

My strawberry

This time I would like to introduce my strawberry.

My strawberries growing nicely

This was the second plant I got in japan. I bought it at a supermarket one time I went grocery shopping. They had them on sale close to the exit. It seem nice and easy to grow so I could not resist them.

Little did I know that this will turn out to be the most complicated and full of surprises plant I ever had.

This is another case of me not really knowing what to do, but after some research I was able to find how to take care of my strawberry.

At first all was perfect. I got them in September, put them on a small pot and they thrive for a month or so, they overgrew the pot really fast so I went and bought a big one. I change them to the big pot where it continue to growing and start to multiply. By late October they started to bloom. I found this a little odd because they were supposed to bloom only in spring, that’s what it says on the label. Of course I was excited about having a successful crop and of course I wasn't going to complain about some extra strawberries, so I let them continue.
But then the problems started. After some continuous days of pure rain the strawberries got some strange white velvet fungus. It turn out to be powdery mildew but I didn’t know that back then. Sad news the crop was lost. I tried to do what I could, water properly, more sun, cut the infected part, all I could, but the strawberries didn’t recover until the end of winter.

At that time I moved from Tokyo to Yokohama and the strawberries started to look better, they grew very healthy and in spring they started to bloom. It was all great until I had to travel abroad for some time, when I got back problems started again. The powdery mildew was back. No crop for the spring.

Besides from that the fungus I also had to deal with aphids, beetles, vacation drought, and many other problems.

It sure has been hard work all the way but my strawberry has surprised me all along. For example after finally being able to deal with the powdery mildew in June they bloom again and I managed to get some very delicious July harvest.

And the biggest surprise is that after dealing with beetles and a second vacation drought my strawberries are blooming now! At the end of August. I will make sure I write another post about that.

This was the result of all the hard work

In the end my strawberries have been the most rewarding of all my plants. I can't wait to see what next year will bring.

My plants

Here is a small ever-changing list of the plants on my garden.
I will try to update this page accordingly to my current garden status. All my plants are now on the "my garden" page

 

• Mint: One apple mint and one peppermint
• Beans: No idea what kind I just try to sow some I didn’t eat
• Grape: It's a Pione, I just got it this month 
• Cilantro: Now on the second sow, I hope they are still on season
• Basil: Sweet basil, I want to try to cook with it
• Japanese maple tree (紅葉): The pot actually has four different kinds I'm waiting for autumn to see which one I keep
• Kalanchoe: Pink, donated by a shop
• Strawberry (苺): In memory of my grandfather 
• Tomato: On the end of season
• Pepper: Rescued form a garden shop trash
• Torenia: White, so many flowers
• Blue Salvia: Beautiful purple flowers
• Zantedeschia: My first plant in japan
• Rose: A little yellow mini rose
• Geranium: White and red for my mom
• Globe amaranth*: For the butterflies  

 

All of my plants have been an adventure on its own, some have worked some have not. Also besides from this I hope to acquire some tulips and maybe some other plants along the road.

*Updated 27 Aug 2010: A brand new globe amaranth