The weather has made a particularly difficult time for my garden this summer. We had a record temperature of 111 degrees and several weeks before and after of triple digit heat here in Texas. See the video above for a tour of my garden and a quick look at blackberry pests and watermelons eaten by animals.
Easy way to get more strawberry plants and free is by using runners. I have tried planting strawberry seeds and it takes much longer than you may want to wait. I’ve found the easiest way is to get some bare root strawberry plants and then when they send out runners – you can propagate them directly into small containers. Simple and fast!
My strawberry garden has started to produce strawberries and the birds have found them. Time to install bird netting. I looked at several options including pvc to make hoops and other options but I settled on using a cattle panel. I’ve used cattle panels to make an arch trellis for my watermelons and cantaloupes in the past and it has worked well. Video of the process I used to make an arch with the cattle panel and secure bird netting over it is below. It has worked well so far to keep the birds out!
The Texas Gardener 