Re: Strawberries

In a message dated 9/19/99 11:11:43 AM EST, nsterman@mindsovermatter.com 
writes:

<< Anyway, my point is, I was was out in the garden this
 morning and the California poppies have already sprouted!  I've never seen
 them sprout before November before. >>

Nan:

Sorry I can't answer your strawberry question, although I have one of my own, 
of which more later.  As to the question of California poppies sprouting, I 
find them coming up in my garden all year long!  However, I irrigate most of 
the garden right through the summer, so that may be why.  They usually make 
small plants, but I actually have a few flowering amongst the marigolds and 
chives in my vegetable garden as we speak.  It is true that the main "flush" 
of new growth begins in the fall with the first rains, though.

My strawberry question is this.  I noticed a "wild" strawberry that had 
self-sown (or been sown by birds) in my garden a few years back, and thought 
that it was a pretty thing, with yellow flowers and small, attractive, but 
inedible fruit.  Now it is threatening to take over the entire garden.  So 
far it has only covered a formerly bare, shady place between two sweet 
cherries, but it is beginning to really "come into its own" now, and is 
branching out in every direction.  I have had to intervene a couple of times 
to keep it from smothering a particularly attractive variegated Ajuga, and I 
can see that it is going to be a continuous battle unless I do something 
drastic.  Like all strawberries, it throws out runners in every direction, 
and roots at every node.  The rooted nodes are particularly tenacious, and 
I'm beginning to think of it as only a slightly more attractive form of 
Bermuda grass!  Any suggestions?  Thanks.

Kurt Mize
Stockton, California
USDA Zone 9
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