Weather report

It's almost the end of May! It's been so cold and rainy for days. I've got bare-root strawberries and daylilies in the garage. I'm wanting to harden off some plants but not in this cold! And I don't want to plant my beans and squash until the soil is warm and not so wet.

I always wrestle with what to do with the old plants. I need a place just to put the early onions and spinach and kale and whatever that comes up from last year. I don't like to get rid of them. I've been eating them. But the old strawberries?

I'm creating a new bed with weed barrier cloth for the 3 new varieties I ordered. I was thinking I could put little pots under the runners later each summer for the babies to root in and plant in a permanent spot elsewhere.

I've heard it's best to have a three year cycle of strawberry beds - meaning, not letting them live beyond three years. Do people never let the runners root in these beds? Cuz then you end up with a new generation. Could you spray paint the oldest plants and use a new color for each year and then you know which are the aged to get rid of? Hmmm ...

I need to get going. I'm meeting my mom and Jim to go out and eat and then go plan a summer family reunion since we're the only ones living here. This actually is going to be a meeting of totally unknown Kansas contingency from my mom's dad's side. Monte's not going - he's running at the nose. He keeps saying, "My nose has never run like this, and I've not had a cold for years!" which he hasn't. I guess it's good for his immune system. He got it from Dawson last week when they were in the extreme AZ heat. I don't want to get it, so I'm not sleeping with him ;^)