If you are planting strawberries from seed the first year, you are supposed to pick the flowers off until July 1st so the roots can grow and you will get a bigger crop. You are also supposed to get rid of 1/3 of your crop keeping only 1/3 of your runners, next year do the same of your older plants replacing 1/3 of them, etc., each year keeping your strawberry plants at between 2 and 3 years old at all times. Always move them to a different location because of bugs each year, cut them back to 1 inch tall in fall and move to their new location. This is from books and internet and most say the same, but that is for everbearing strawberries. If you have June bearers, you never cut your runners because that is where your crop comes from. Do you know what kind of strawberry you have? It will help, there are 3 kinds, everbearing, june bearing, and another I can't remember similar to everbearing. I thought when you bought plants, they were on their second year? I might be wrong, but you can ask your nursery where you bought them how old they are. And speaking only from books, the cucumbers do not like wind either, they call them ridge cucumbers because you usually plant them in a ridge, a few inches deep in the row, this gives them a sunken bed and protection from wind. I can't say from experience this is true, and my cucumbers did better as ground cover producing much more than the year before, but location is probably the reason why too. I changed them to a different row the next year and on the ground you can say they may have sprouted more roots making more plants.

I've been experimenting with lasagna gardens this year and have some success...and some almost failures. The tomatoes are huge..but mostly greenery and the fruit is wrinkled so I guess I should have watered more even though the lasagna stayed moist. Picked the first ripe ones yesterday. The acorn squash have taken over the bed and are climbing the fence now and are setting squash. I planted a row of corn in a brand new lasagna bed and it is doing well. It was nothing but grass clippings and shredded paper with a small amount of compost. I thought it would get a foot high and then keel over. Not so, it just keeps growing and even though I planted late, is starting to tassle. Another last minute bed is woodchips and grass clippings (obviously the grass is growing this cool summer) with only enough compost to plant seeds in. Last week, I seeded this one with parsnip seeds and last night it looked like every one had germinated! This in my experience is very unusual. They usually take ages to germinate and then are spotty. There are so many coming up I thought they were weeds! Meanwhile the beans are producing well and one of the best veggies this year has been the peas. With all of the cool weather they are still producing. It's been quite fun trying this type of gardening.

We have two major gardens--the spring garden and the fall. Fall is more productive for us (fewer bugs and more rain). Right now we have in garlic, onions, lettuce, broccoli, spinach, corn salad, rocket and carrots. Our fall carrots don't get very large, but they sure are sweet! Since we now have more space, we are experimenting with a seasonal garden (smaller) for in-and-out crops, a larger garden for the long season plants like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, etc. and a dedicated garden for onions and garlic. We also have an asparagus patch to be planted this coming February. Thanks to a wonderful neighbor down the road who has a tractor and tiller, we aren't breaking our backs digging and tilling!

The recipe books "Make a Mix" and "More Make a Mix" are really good and have many different dry mixes you can make yourself to have on hand. Here are a few I found on the WWW. Bacon-flavoured dip mix (DRY MIX RECIPE) Bacon flavoured dip mix 2 tb instant bacon bits 1 ts instant beef bouillon 1 tb instant minced onion 1/8 ts minced garlic Combine all ingredients in a small bowl; blend well. Spoon mixture onto a 6-inch square of aluminum foil and foil to make airtight (or zip-lock). Label as bacon-flavoured dip mix. Store in a cool, dry place and use within 6 months. Makes one package (about 3 T) of mix. Bacon flavoured dip: Combine 1 cup of sour cream and 1 package of mix. Chill at least 1 hour before serving. Makes about 1 cup of dip. VARIATIONS: substitute 1 cup yogurt, 1 cup cottage cheese, or 1 (8 oz)package of softened cream cheese for sour cream. You can do a beautiful label with all instructions. It'S a good gift! marika Onion soup MIX 3/4 cup instant (dry) minced onions 1/3 cup beef-flavor instant bouillon 4 teaspoon onion powder 1/4 teaspoon celery seeds, crushed 1/4 teaspoon sugar Combine all ingredients and keep in an airtight container. The same flavour than the onion soup from the grocery, but really cheap! marika sesame-cheese Dip mix -Dry mix RECIPE- 1 T grated parmesan cheese 1/2 t salt 1 dash pepper 2 t toasted sesame seeds 1/2 t celery seed 1/8 t garlic powder Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, blend well. Spoon mixture onto a little bag. Label, store in a cool, dry place, and use within 4 months. Makes 1 package (about 2 T) of mix. Combine 1 cup of sour cream and 1 package of mix. Chill at least 1 hour before serving. (the taste is better if you do it 24 h before you serve it, and this is the same for all dips mixes) marika Super salad Seasoning mix -DRY MIX RECIPE- Super salad seasoning mix 2 c. grated parmesan cheese 1/2 c. sesame seed 1 T. Instant minced onions 1/2 t. dried dill seed 3 T. celery seeds 1/2 t. freshly ground pepper 2 t. salt 1/2 t. garlic salt 2 T. Parsley flakes 2 T. poppy seeds 2 t. paprika Combine all ingredients. Put in a quart airtight container and label. Store and use within 3 to 4 months. Makes about 3 cups of mix. Use Super salad seasoning mix on the following: sprinkled topping over tossed green salads, baked potatoes and buttered French bread or rolls before toasting, as a garnish for potatoe salads, macaroni or egg salads and as sour cream dip made with 2 T. of mix to 1 cup of sour cream.