Hello again, dear garden blog! What’s been going on lately? Quite a lot, indeed.

Alpine Strawberries:

My awesome little brother bought me Alpine Strawberry seeds for Hanukkah this year and I decided that this month would be a good time to start them, with the hopes that I’ll have little plants to set out around mid-April. My friend Carrie was in town visiting and helped me get them off to a good start.

I set out trays of seed starting mix (I really like the Burpee kind), wet the mix until it was very very damp (almost soggy) and then we sprinkled the seeds on top and just patted them gently in to the top (no real covering depth). Then we placed the trays on top of a seed-starting heating mat, and placed them underneath some grow-lights.

The instructions on the seed packet say to be very patient and that it takes 3-4 weeks before any seedlings emerge. Imagine my surprise when I noticed at least 10 sprouts on Day 4!  Now it is Day 14 since planting and there are easily 150 little sprouts and most of them are starting to get their first true leaves.

Tonight I transferred 36 of the most promising seedlings into larger pots. I placed 4 in each pot – hopefully they won’t be too crowded as they get bigger. I tried to disturb their roots as little as possible by scooping them up with a spoon and gently pressing them into the pot.

Here is a photo of one of the little 4″ by 4″ pots – the seedlings look so scrawny. I really hope that this works out and I’ll end up with at least 20 strong strawberry plants to place in my front yard landscaping.

Front Yard Drip Irrigation:

The front yard irrigation project went off quite successfully, with my husband and father working together to invent a genius way to dig under the sidewalk to run the drip line.

• All drip lines and drippers hooked up, including the parts that have to go under the sidewalk? Yes! 
• Manifold valve connected at start of drip line? Yes! 
• Electrical run from valve to the automated irrigation controller box? Yes! 
• System tested to see if it actually works? Yes! 

Single drip emitter near blueberry plant on 1/2" tubing.

Wow, it has been quite a project getting the front yard automated drip irrigation installed, but I have really learned a lot.

What I learned while installing drip irrigation:

1. Drip Depot is totally awesome and I LOVE their kits, minus their one small downfall (see item 2!).
2. The downfall of Drip Depot kits is that they do not include enough stakes. Seriously, if the kit says “20″ of the 1/4 inch size stakes, buy 40-60 additional! If the kit says 20 of the 1/2 inch size stakes, buy at least 40 additional!
3. Manifold valve systems are usually installed by professionals onto pipes with pipe threading and are not normally installed as at-garden-hose-faucet systems. I had to concoct a 4-part conversion series to get from the 3/4″ male hose thread at the faucet in order to get to the 1″ female pipe-thread that started my manifold valve.