Page 25 - Simply Vegetables Winter 2021/22

DO IT
NOW!
Action for Strawberries 2022!
Did you enjoy last year’s strawberries, large, red and juicy? Flavour is of
the prime importance, let’s see what we can recommend to help you improve the most valuable crop in the garden!
Although strawberries produced
in the allotment they are not strictly a vegetable. They are grown because they are delicious and encourage you to; “Eat more fruit”.
Whilst continuing to enjoy the challenges of growing strawberries in the rotation, my suggestion is that
you set-out to produce more fruit from fewer plants with less work.
Making a wise decision
Take the work earnestly. There
are going to be extra necessities
in growing the fruit, especially, as everything now costs more. For purely cost-effective reasons, the decision to grow strawberries is a wise one.
In the press it is possible to read and gain information about growing in poly-tunnels, involving miles of containers on benches and working
with a hydroponic system. These expenses and daily obligations are too much for the few kilos of fruit that are needed at home for jam making, deep-freezing and feeding friends and family.
Life of the strawberry bed
No bed ought to be in production for more than three years. Currently many commercial growers prefer to grow their strawberries for one year only.
In the allotment, traditionally, we give the plants a couple of years to build themselves up into ‘first class fruiting specimens’.
Quality of the stock you are going to plant
Strawberries are a big impact crop where disease and eelworm are the enemies. Buy certified plants from
a specialist, and above all, avoid the dubious sellers. Their stock can be prone to virus diseases which are difficult to recognise and a positively peril.
Soil preparation
Strawberries like to grow in a well- drained soil where there has been no related crops.
Bearing in mind that the soil is going to be working for three years, to minimise the risk of disease build up it a sound policy to be generous from the start. Double-dig your trench and firmly tread down a good barrowful of manure or compost into the bottom. Prepare a fine firm surface by raking and working in a handful of high potash fertilizer, along every yard, into the top-soil.
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