I chanced into a quart of organic strawberries at the Farmer's Market before I read this thread.
I see you already have strawberries that are ripe. I would be craving some!
These days when I plant, the last step is building the protection. I'm so tired of disappointment when the groundhog gets my stuff. In fact, when I plant, I have the protection in mind and the materials go out to the garden with me.
I think there's something to early plant protection. It sorta' trains them that there's nothing here for them. I also brush my cat Ollie every morning. He loves it and I get big balls for orange fur to spread around the garden.
Oh, that reminds me, whenever I go in for a hair cut, I call ahead and ask the stylist to save everybody's clippings for me. I take home a nice-sized bag of hair that I spread around. The scent throws deer off. Makes them nervous.
I never let up on the protection. I spray every Monday with Repel-It and envision ways they might be able to get at my plants.
Another thing I do is put tack straw around my plant and shade it for a full three days so it gets its root system acclimated. That also hides a new planting from the deer, groundhogs, etc.
Thanks for the pics!
= new reply since forum marked as read