Berry Late

   I finally got my strawberries planted. Well, at least in starter pots. I ordered the berries from a mail order nursery, because the write-ups in the online catalog made these varieties seem much better than those available at local stores. And the price was appealing.
   We had strawberries in Utah, when we lived there, but they were a small variety, and not very firm. They produced plentifully, but the children tended to eat them as soon as they were ripe. And really, they didn't keep well anyway. I wanted better this time. So I ordered two varieties that are supposed to be large and meaty, but tasty. One is an early bearer and the other is supposed to produce throughout the summer.

   When the shipment arrived, I was surprised to find that I had two plastic bags of roots. Before I placed the order, I called their customer service line to ask how they would come, but nothing prepared me for what I received. In each bag appeared to be a bundle of brown tendrils bound together with a rubber band. I began to second guess my decision to order them, especially since right afterwards I began to see large strawberry plants available at the local nurseries and box stores, some of them with blossoms on them already.

   Even then, I didn't plant them. I was still waiting on retaining wall block for my last planting box (all the block seems to be back-ordered around here). I left the roots in the bags, thinking I would plant them very soon. After about a week, I noticed that they began to grow leaves inside the bag, and the moisture was condensing on the inside of the bag, so I thought they would be alright. And still I didn't get the planting box finished. (It didn't help that we had about a week of rain.)
   Then I noticed one day that the leaves were gone, and I worried that I had let my strawberry roots die. So at my first opportunity, I got some plastic cups, put some soil in them, and planted one bag of the roots in them. Since I ran out of cups, I had to go to the store, and there I found some biodegradable starter pots, which I purchased for the other bag of roots. I also remembered reading that you shouldn't plant strawberries where you've previously had tomatoes or peppers, because they cause the soil to rot the strawberry roots. The soil I had used came from the box where I had tomatoes last year, so I bought some potting soil and planted the second batch in that.

   Now my planting box is still not ready, and the plants don't seem to be doing well. The second batch don't appear to have any life left in them at all, and the first batch I'll have to replant in proper starter pots with potting soil. A few of them have green leaves, but I think I may have killed 45 of the 50 plants.
   It didn't ease my pain to finally find the instructions of how to care for them if I wasn't going to plant them immediately. I had looked for something like that when I received the box, but didn't find it at the time. Now I found it, and learned that I should have opened the bag and poured water in every other day.
   Really, I should have just planted them in the starter pots from the beginning. It seems pretty late in the season now, and I may have missed my window of opportunity for this year.
   As a curious aside, while I was sitting on the driveway planting them, with my youngest two children playing nearby and helping me, two Jehovah's Witness women came by and struck up a conversation with me. I was not interested in their message, but in general I do admire their fervor and commitment in that faith. So I talked with them while I sat there and continued working. I took the opportunity to share my faith and testimony with them, and though neither convinced the other, I think we were all enriched by the encounter. The most important part for me was to demonstrate for my children respect for others and testifying of the truths I know when the opportunity arises.
   After all, it's not only fruits and vegetables I'm trying to raise well.