Weather plays such a large role in gardening, and each week brings new challenges. While our spring started out being quite a bit cooler and drier than normal, we now have more than adequate moisture along with temperatures that are making working outside at times pretty sticky and uncomfortable. But on the positive side, this is really making gardens and field crops grow fast. This is the time of year we need to keep up the weeding of the garden, as weeds always seem to grow much faster than our vegetables and will choke out what we are growing. It is easiest to hoe out these weeds when they are quite small by hoeing just below the soil surface.

The hot weather we needed to ripen the strawberries has arrived and there are now a lot of delicious local strawberries available at the farmers market. If you need a quantity of strawberries for freezing or making jam, make arrangements with your local grower or just come to the market for a few quarts for fresh eating. Our annual strawberry festival, which we delayed for one week because the strawberries were slow ripening, will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. today we will be serving those wonderful fresh strawberry shakes and sundaes, made with that good bulk ice cream. Don’t miss this.

Americans have held festivals in honor of strawberries since the 1850s. Norse mythology associates strawberries with such sacred icons as marriage and birth. The strawberry was a symbol of Venus, the goddess of love, because of its natural heart shape and bright red color. Strawberries take their name from the Latin word, “fragaria,” meaning fragrant.

There are two primary types of strawberries – the June bearing and the everbearing, which ripen throughout the season. Strawberries are quite easy to grow, and should be planted in the spring in rows, with plants about 18 to 24 inches apart and rows about five feet apart. The first year, any blossoms should be removed to allow the strength to go into the plant itself. Runners will form from each plant, and on the end of these runners, new plants will grow. The row you planted in the spring should be up to two or three feet wide by fall. This first year, it is very important to keep weed competition to a minimum. If you are planting everbearing, you may be able to harvest some berries in the fall. June berries will give you a larger crop, but you will have to wait until the following June for berries.

Strawberries are one of the most popular fruits. Not only can they be eaten fresh, but can be used in pies, muffins, breads, salads, desserts, jams or frozen or dried for later use. Fresh berries must be refrigerated in loosely covered containers and can be stored for up to three days. When ready to use, wash them and remove caps. If freezing berries, you can use a sugar syrup, or freeze plain. If you want the berries to keep their shape, you can clean and dry them and freeze them by laying them on a cookie sheet and placing them in the freezer just until frozen firmly. Then remove them and place them in freezer containers for storage for up to one year. To dry strawberries, wash, dry and slice berries, dip them in a solution of 1/2 teaspoon ascorbic acid or Fruit Fresh to one cup of water and dehydrate until crispy.

One quart of strawberries weighs about 1.25 to 1.5 pounds. Mashed or sliced, this would be about one pint.

Easy delicious strawberry trifle

1 box instant banana pudding

2 c. whole milk

1 Sara Lee pound cake

1 tub (8 ounces) creamy Cool Whip

1 qt. fresh strawberries

Mix pudding with milk and beat together until thickened. Chill. In glass bowl, add half of pound cake, which has been cut into chunks. Next, layer half of the strawberries, half of the pudding and half of the Cool Whip. Repeat layers, topping with a few fresh strawberries. Enjoy!

Strawberry shortcake

1 qt. fresh berries, cleaned

1/4 c. sugar

Shortcakes: In food processor, put 2 c. sifted flour, 1/4 c. plus 2 tbsp. sugar, 1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. baking powder, 4 tbsp. cold butter (added over three times, pulsing after each). Transfer to a large bowl. Mix one egg and 1/2 c. milk and add to flour mixture just until blended. Drop in eight mounds on baking sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Cool and split. Put berries inside and top with 1 c. cream whipped with 2 tbsp. powdered sugar.

Strawberry brown sugar shortcake

1 pkg. (8 oz.) refrigerator buttermilk biscuit

1/3 c. brown sugar

2 tbsp. melted butter

1 qt. strawberries, washed and hulled

1/4 c. granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Separate biscuits. Dip top of one biscuit in brown sugar, place another biscuit on top and firmly press together, making one biscuit 3 inches in diameter. Repeat with rest of biscuits. Dip tops of biscuits in melted butter and brown sugar and place on cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Slice berries and add sugar. To serve, split hot biscuits, spread on a little softened butter, fill with sliced berries and a little whipped cream and top with more whipped cream and one whole berry.

Farmers market update

We are now getting into summer season produce at the market. At the most recent market, we still had a lot of the early produce, such as radishes, lettuce, spinach, green onions, asparagus and rhubarb, but we are now getting into peas, kohlrabi, broccoli, beets, new potatoes and even some zucchini, and of course, lots of strawberries.

At each Wednesday market from 4 to 6 p.m., we have a group serving a meal, and this Wednesday we will also be serving the popular fresh strawberry shakes and sundaes.

Different people and groups are also providing us with some wonderful entertainment. The AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project has a table at each market with information, and if you haven’t already signed up to participate, you can do this and buy your T-shirt. The Albert Lea Transit Bus, sponsored by Albert Lea Medical Center and Sanderson Auto, brings people to the market each Wednesday and you can call Joann at 379-1111 for more information on that.

The Wednesday basket giveaway and the Saturday morning coffee and treats are at the red barn and the strawberry shakes and sundaes will be served there on Wednesday also. This building is located on the grass just north of the parking lot and there are picnic tables around there too. Make coming to the market not only a shopping trip for some of the tastiest produce you will ever find, but come to enjoy a meal and good entertainment too. You will be helping out some local nonprofit groups, supporting the local economy by buying locally grown items and have a great time doing it. And if you are a Vitality Project participant and trying to eat healthier, the local farmers market is the place to get the best produce. And if you are doing more walking or biking, how about biking or walking to the market?

And don’t forget to bring your reusable shopping bags. The Farm Bureau gave away 10 of them to our customers last week, so bring those back to refill this week. See you at the farmers market each Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon.

Verlys Huntley is a Master Gardener with the Albert Lea Farmers Market.