Strawberry fields
January is harvest time for many summer treats - while courgettes and beans fill our baskets to overflowing, my strawberries rarely make it indoors! The children's eyes are always looking as each berry turns a mouthwatering red and harvesting and eating becomes one swift act!
Strawberries are easy to grow, and ideal for smaller gardens as they take up very little space and fruit soon after planting.
The best time to plant your strawberries is in autumn or winter. the soil must be well-drained but not prone to drying out too quickly. Add compost, fertiliser, and a light dressing of dolomite lime before planting. Raised beds are very effective, especially if covered with black weed mat or a thick layer of straw - which helps conserve water and protects the fruit.
Strawberries need lots of feeding. Supplement the initial soil preparation with a balanced liquid fertiliser every fortnight. Seaweed sprays applied fortnightly are a good source of trace elements and help prevent fungal diseases. Plants also need regular watering especially if grown in containers. A drip irrigation system activated early in the morning is best as it keep water off the fruit.
Most modern strawberry varieties are disease-resistant but in humid areas copper sprays are a useful extra precayion. To avoid root disease, refrain from planting new crops in soil previously used for strawberries. Alternatively, dig the soil out and replace it.
if you remove the runners at the end of the harvest, healthy strawberry plants will fruit for three or four more seasons. However, the most reliable results come from planting new plants every two to three years.
You can propagate your own by keeping the first runner from each off-shoot but to safeguard against viruses, which are spread by aphids, it's generally better to buy plants which have been certified disease-free.
GROWING IN CONTAINERS
Strawberries grow very well in containers provided they are given good quality potting soil, fed well and never allowed to dry out. A wooden barrel with holes in the sides is ideal. Terracotta strawberry pots and upturned terracotta drainage tiles are also very attractive but need more vigilant watering.
A good container mix for strawberries is one-part compost to two-parts garden mix. Add a handful of general garden fertiliser for each plant or a three-month slow release fertiliser, then liquid feed once a fortnight.
- Denise Cleverley
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