3 responses to “Even the Begonias”

1. Ralph ⋅

   July 23, 2011 at 5:33 pm

   I don’t have any, never used it, but I’ve heard of shade cloth. Basically it’s a mesh that you put over plants to cut down the amount of sun they get. I think it comes in different size meshes to allow different amounts of sun through. I’ll have to check out my seed catalogs for it. It may not be practical since you would need some sort of frame to keep it in place.

   While most of the yard, even the weeds, is taking a beating in the heat, I have a small clay pot overfilled with small basil plants started from seeds that is thriving on my rail top.

   My dried up crispy remains of what were strawberries are starting to grow new green leaves. They survived outside through the winter, burning up neglected in the sun without water, and now they’re coming back for more. I haven’t tried any indoors yet, but I have a feeling they’ll do just fine.

   There’s been a lot of talk about how bad things are growing this year. Does anyone have plants that are growing well in this weather? If next year is anything like this that may be valuable information.

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2. revelgardener ⋅

   July 25, 2011 at 11:37 pm

   Nothing of mine is particularly happy with this heat but the tomatoes seem to be doing alright. I just started some basil from seed – late in the season, I know, but I’m planning on keeping them inside over the winter.

   About the strawberries – as I mentioned, I tried some a couple years ago but they were really greedy with the water and I was a little negligent. In short, it just wasn’t meant to be. I have, however, thought about giving it another try. One thing that may have been hurting me is I had them in kind of a small container. Just wondering what kind of container you have yours in. Did they start climbing? I love that they’re beginning to bud again after a full winter of dormancy. Keep us posted…

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3. Ralph ⋅

   July 26, 2011 at 3:27 pm

   My strawberries started from seeds. They are meant for a hanging basket- so the seed description said. They are small, not full sized fruit. The largest are maybe a half inch long. I just drop them whole into salads. I have them in a plastic flower box, maybe 5 inches soil depth, 18 inches long. They are pretty crammed in there, I have no idea how many plants.

   The second box that is just reviving was as crammed, but before it almost died out I cut out a couple plants from the mass of roots (actually kind of hacked out squares of dirt with a plant using a screw driver) and dropped them into flower pots for someone. The soil in the box was one big clump with all the roots. They kept growing nice but eventually died from neglect. Mine haven’t climbed. It may be the type I have, but they keep growing stems with leaves from the individual plant base.

   I have to get around to removing the reviving plants in the second box and separating them into individual plants. The box is now full of dead dried out old plants with some green leaves poking their way out. They do like their water, especially in the heat. That may be why I see strawberries in self watering containers. I do know that if you transplant them you have to leave the plant a little above the soil level, not below or flush.

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