Your own Strawberries - all summer!

By A C Palmer

Strawberries - what does that word conjure up in your mind?
There really is nothing nicer than a plate of strawberries and cream with a sprinkling of sugar on top. It is the stuff of summer; cool breezes and watching tennis at Wimbledon on a hot, sultry day - at least that is the picture book scene! The reality though could be a sea of crowded umbrellas, with everyone getting soaked by the run-off from the umbrella next to you - while you all stare at a deserted windswept court!

But regardless of when and where you eat strawberries, for the home gardener here is a fruit that can be easily grown in containers and hanging pots if you don't have the room for a garden in your yard.
The fruit is mouth-watering, sweet and juicy and there simply is no comparison between a store-bought strawberry and one that has been grown and picked fresh from your own garden.
They are actually a fruit that can be grown right through from spring to the fall, providing you buy the correct varieties.
Early to mid-season varieties tend to produce a single crop of the larger type of strawberries for a two to three week period in the late spring/early summer.

Heavy cropping strawberry varieties can be harvested two to three times during the growing season, i.e. spring, summer and fall.

There is a third variety that will produce a smaller, sweeter fruit that will produce crops right through from spring to fall as well; this one is a great favourite with children!

Strawberry plants like a well-drained 'sandy type' of soil that is rich in organic matter. The young plants should be planted in the spring with a good heavy layer of compost/mulch around them to (a) prevent weeds from growing, and (b) to drip feed nutrients to the plant as the rain washes the compost into the soil.
They like a sunny position if possible, for sunshine will produce sweeter fruits.
By the very nature of the fruit they produce, to keep strawberries thriving they need 1 or 2 inches of water a week in order to produce a sweet and juicy crop.
And so there you have it. In your own back yard you can produce an environmentally friendly, healthy and extremely tasty crop of strawberries.
All you need then is your TV switched on during the 2nd week in June and there you are at Wimbledon, watching the tennis along with everybody else on the centre court, come rain or shine, with a delicious plate of strawberries and cream in your hand!