strawbs bargains

natlie

sorry autumn then - its rained here since last July - we only have winter and spring now.

rabidbun

I had the same with my marshmellow - cut all the runners around September some time and left them to it - just discovered that in spring they'd obviously had another go at it before Winter hit, resulting in around a plant each! Right mess in there now!

bendipa

I would not buy any strawberry plants from a supermarket. They have usually been deprived of light while trying to grow and are not looked after or properly or watered. Always buy plants from an approved specialist nursery like KM or WFS

I haven't tried the French varieties mentioned, but 2 really good British summer varities are Cambridge Vigour (ripens June) and Hapil (ripens July), both of which have an excellent flavour. Part of the trick in getting a decent flavour is to allow the berries once they have turned red is to ripen a little further on the plant. Eg Cambridge Vigour berries should be allowed to turn crimson before being picked. That way the sugars can form fully.The other important thing is that strawberriy plants need as much sun as possible

cootambear

bendipa wrote: »

I would not buy any strawberry plants from a supermarket. They have usually been deprived of light while trying to grow and are not looked after or properly or watered. Always buy plants from an approved specialist nursery like KM or WFS

I haven't tried the French varieties mentioned, but 2 really good British summer varities are Cambridge Vigour (ripens June) and Hapil (ripens July), both of which have an excellent flavour. Part of the trick in getting a decent flavour is to allow the berries once they have turned red is to ripen a little further on the plant. Eg Cambridge Vigour berries should be allowed to turn crimson before being picked. That way the sugars can form fully.The other important thing is that strawberriy plants need as much sun as possible

strawb varieties are of course, varieties, so do behave a little differently to each other. some are ripe when pale red, some only when deep red.,

unless you are very clued up about your variety, the best thing is to taste 2 fruits at each extreme.

strawbs of course should be planted in as full a sun as possible.

dunno much about vigour, but all the cambridge varieties are good all rounders.

cootambear

so, how are everyones strawbs doing? 3 of mine have flowered

Orange_King

There are plenty of flowers on mine and some now shedding their petals - are these a bit premature and liable to comne to nowt?

I'd be interested in hearing how many viable plants folk have that give them a plentiful supply for the month or two the fruits are produced?

[Deleted User]

I am ready and waiting, expecting mara de bois to arrive any day now from ken muir. I already have 5 types of pot ready strawberries on order from chris bowyers and they will be with me in june but could not resist the 12 mara plants. I bought two of these to hold them
http://www.greenfingers.com/superstore/product.asp?dept_id=252&pf_id=LS4865D

They are brilliant and can hold a very decent volume of compost, not like most of the strawberry planters around. I have planted (tagetes patula nana) marigolds on the bottom and the compost is all mixed and ready. I added water gels, vermiculite and a small bit of dried manure to the compost, which already contains some john innes
http://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/organic-extra-pid2509.html

Farway

cootambear wrote: »

so, how are everyones strawbs doing? 3 of mine have flowered

Mine have buds on, but no flowers open yet. South Hampshire & in an unheated greenhouse

cootambear

Farway wrote: »

Mine have buds on, but no flowers open yet. South Hampshire & in an unheated greenhouse

I am in the north and they are outside. they must love me

cootambear

Orange_King wrote: »

There are plenty of flowers on mine and some now shedding their petals - are these a bit premature and liable to comne to nowt?

I'd be interested in hearing how many viable plants folk have that give them a plentiful supply for the month or two the fruits are produced?

As they are early they will be small, and maybe a bit misshapen if the pollinators havent had a chance to get to them.

I have 300 plants, some `june bearers` and some `everbearers`. Some on here have only a handful of plants are are happy, I could eat them 4 meals a day (and probably will).

The blurb on the plants websites talks about `up to 1lb of fruit from each plant`. Misleading because that yield could only be expected from 2 or 3 year old plants in optimum growing conditions. Figure on maybe a third of that in years 2 and 3 and calculate how much your family can eat.