Maybe you could add tomato plants nearby and invent the strawmato.
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Mmm strawmato…
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I’d say it depends on what kind of veggies you wanted to plant. Some plants pair well with strawberries, and others don’t. Onions, chives, beans and spinach are all good pairings, because they can help repel pests from the berry plants. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and okra are not good pairings because they can be prone to diseases that can harm your berry plants. And you wouldn’t want to plant root crops like carrots, potatoes, beets, etc., in with your strawberries, since you’ll have to dig them up and would disturb the berry plants’ roots.
It’s also important to know that berry plants will propagate by putting out runners, so it can be tricky to keep them contained. Every spring I have to move a few runaway berry plants back into my berry patch. You CAN transplant strawberries, but depending on where you are, it might be too late in the season to do that this year. Here in Ohio, the blossoms are already showing up on the plants, so I don’t want to disturb them if I can help it.
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It’s gotta be better than Tomacco.
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Gotcha! So transplanting is out of the cards as the plants all have at least one flower now. I didn’t know to not move them at this stage, so that was very helpful. It seems that a few will be able to stay which is great because they were growing untended when we got to the house last summer and they were producing delicious berries. I’ll jump on the transplanting when appropriate. Thank you again!
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Only one medium-sized amorphophallus konjac decided to bloom this year. It got damaged a bit by a late frost but doesn’t look too bad.
Smells like a rotting badger, though. That’s part of its charm!
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And you know what rotting badger smells like how exactly?
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My early lilac has started blooming. Ahh, I love that smell. I have a second batch that will start blooming in another few weeks, and a third set that will go in June. Have I mentioned I love lilacs?
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I have a lilac next to my backyard garden shed, and I’m eagerly waiting for those blooms to open.
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Haiii!
I’ve got cilantro, cantelope, watermelon, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, and butternut squash coming up for sure. The potatoes and onion are going bananas, and I’ve got elder plants from last year’s garden than I tended under a lamp through the winter - a cherry tomato and bell pepper. Oh, and my two little avocado trees.
I uh… Didn’t realize it was quite so many plants until I listed them all out here. 
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Nice! I attempted to overwinter a couple of pepper plants in my garage this year, but I guess I didn’t give them enough attention, because it looks like they didn’t make it. But I did save seeds from my two other peppers and had a very successful germination rate with those.
Squash, zucchini, cantelope and watermelon — you’re going to have vines everywhere! Fun fact: I have never intentionally planted a butternut squash, but I end up with at least one in my garden every year from one of the previous year’s squash that wind up in my compost pile. Last year I had a bumper crop of butternut squash, and the whole family got sick of squash soup over the winter.
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Great problem to have - I’ve got the same situation with basil - I don’t plant it anymore, it just appears. I’m not sad about it because basil is amazing.
And the potatoes are vines as well! I’ve got sweet, russet, and red 'taters going, and one very hearty onion. So far the carrots don’t seem to be surviving, so about to have to replant them and see if we make it.
My big worry is the root borers and ants. The former love to destroy my beautiful squash and zucchini, the latter love to burrow into my watermelon and eat them up from the inside out. 
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Oh yeah, and I actually had a nice arugula plant and a 2nd tomato and 2nd pepper plant that didn’t make it. The arugula would have if I hadn’t accidentally overwatered it though. This winter my shower is going to be impossible to use.
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Pro tip that I just learned (luckily not the hard way): Potato vines are are toxic/psychadelic for cats. WOW I am so glad I didn’t plant these close to the catio.
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I love growing all kinds of flowers, but the irises are really something special. If you stare at them up close, you can feel like you’re looking at an alien creature.
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Meanwhile, here’s an update from the veggie garden:
The tomatoes are all transplanted and looking good. This is a sungold, a pineapple and a pomodoro squisito variety.
An unseasonable heat and some kind of pest knocked the peppers back a bit. The Jimmy Nardellos you see here are doing OK, but the habanadas probably won’t make it. I also have two jalapenos and a mad hatter variety that I hope will get by.
The lettuces are very happy, and the cucumbers are transplanted, so now I just have to pray I get them before disease does.
And I hope to get the first ripe strawberries any day now.
How are things looking in your gardens?
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Finally popped a pepper (jalapeño) and a cauliflower head; herbs are picking up, and the spinach is popping. Still waiting on tomatoes, marigolds, and the rest of the peppers.
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I just spent a bit of the afternoon in my garden, and it got me to wondering how many of you also have green thumbs and like to commune with the plants and bugs. Feel free to post your garden pics, problems, and tips here!
Mine is a guerrilla garden made from the unused portion of my landlords’ driveway, much to my landlords’ delight (phew). It’s pretty shady, sheltered, and cool, and here in Toronto we have a classic semi-continental climate with hot, humid summers, and frigid, snowy winters (most years, unless climate change really flexes its muscles.)
I try to keep mostly indigenous plants (easier growth, less water, happier critters), so I have a variety of violets, yarrow, goldenrod, day lilies, butterfly weed, clematis, phlox, and columbine. I keep a bed of lilies of the valley, and morning glories and honeysuckle climb all over any trellis or fence. Rosemary, Genovese basil, chives, nasturtium, lavender, and cilantro add an edible/useful element, and a couple potted palms lend a bit of privacy from the driveway, which is a bit of a communal space between four houses.
I’ve always wanted a rose arbour, but roses don’t do so well in this region (my hometown is known as the rose city; I began gardening with roses acting more like weeds in the way than prized garden babies.) I also can’t seem to keep primrose or foxglove alive for more than one season no matter what I try.
Here is my patch today, with things just starting to really grow. I’ll update when the vines fill-out. Show us what garden paradise you turn to for peace of mind and earthly connection!
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A stinking death flower! I’ve never known anyone to have one at home, I’ve only seen them in botanical gardens! Don the clothespin and admire its short-lived beauty!
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