New Strawberry Patch

My wife decided to enlarge our strawberry patch. It was pretty small, I had already started taking down the rocks and was not about to put them back for the picture.
We decided to create a raised bed for them along side the edge of the garden.
Using my trusty trailer I filled up up the area with good composted dirt. Then went through it with my trusty BCS tiller, to break it down.
coming to the front are a few rhubarb plants of several varieties. Then the asparagus.
At the entrance are wedding onions. More about them later.

Tags: Minnesota Gardens Home Garden wedding onions strawberries

Grapes in Minnesota

We decided to go with the St Croix grape, I told the nursery I wanted a table grape, so I took his suggestion of the St. Croix. After I got home and we planted it I got around to reading thre label. It said the this was the one red wine variety that Elmer Swenson has released. It is Vinifera like wine quality with low tannins and good hardiness -32F to -40 depending on who you read. Ripens midseason and has a semi-trailing growth pattern. Good resistance to black rot and powdery mildew. Also makes a suitable seeded table grape. I got the impression seeds are going to be in any table grapes I plant here. It's in the ground, planted next to the garden arch. We'll see how it goes.
Tags: Minnesota Gardens Home Garden Planting Grapes