strawberry flowers

[anemone]

How many weeks til they turn into fruit ?

Not impatient at all, lol :)

[anemone]

[star]

Not too sure, but seeing as your in France you'll get fruit before us.....probably. Mine are just coming into flower, they normally fruit in June time......nom, nom, nom

[gaz2000]

one variety of mine are flowering,so ive given the bed a sprinkle of blood,fish and bone ready

[anemone]

I'm not in france - I'm in the south though so still hopeful it'll be early. I go on holiday june 14, so I'm really hoping it's before then :)

Both beds at the lotty are flowering, the ones in pots at home aren't yet.

[Pink Fingers]

I'm getting loads of flowers on mine on the allotment for what I hope will be a bumper crop (it's my second year on this plot). 

Last year, the blackbirds seemed to get more than I did >:(.  Any recommendations on what I should cover them to keep my feathered friends away please? 

[aussiedigger]

I use netting from the pound shop.  I put stakes in at the corners and a couple in between to give some height, put an upturned plastic pot over the stakes so the netting doesn't rip.  I pin down the edges with 'staples' which are U shaped or skinny 'tent pegs' - all from pound shop / Wilkinsons over the last few years.  I also have 3 sacrificial plants which are about 5 metres away from the main bed which I don't net and don't pick from myself.

Good luck with whatever you try.  Some birds can be very persistent!!

[antipodes]

Mine has lots of flowers, for about a week now and I am starting to get white fruit forming. I am in France too (Nantes) so I expect fruit within the next week or two. A bit more patience!

[cornykev]

All my old runners were cut off, but in the last week or so they have thrown off loads of runners, do I leave, pot or discard these, sorry Anemone slightly off topic.  ;D ;D ;D

[pookienoodle]

some of the early strawbs I bought from Lidl that are outside in my raised bed have large but not yet ripened fruit on them,seems super early to me but I am not complaining.
they seem to be loving the lasagna bed they are in.

[vjm63]

I got some strawberries when they were on offer in Aldi, and they have been in the greenhouse since - potted into large pots, because I kept meaning to put them out, but it got frosty...  They have been flowering for several weeks, and some of the fruit are getting quite big.  I was stupidly excited to see one of the fruit slightly shading red today...!

Must get a life .... no, I'll stick to gardening  ;D

[Rosyred]

I was surprised to find my strawberry plants had flowers on when I went to the allotment this evening. I'm impatient now too ;D

[artichoke]

"3 sacrificial plants" !!!

What a good idea, but how can you bring yourself to do it? You must have iron discipline.

[Pink Fingers]

Bought my green netting ready to keep the birds off, only to be told by a neighbour that he had to cut a bird free from his last year :(. 

Luckily our local thatcher has dropped off numerous rolls of redundant 'chicken wire' so most of us are going for that. How lucky are we ;D!

[antipodes]

I used to net my strawbs but I killed two birds like that so that was enough for me. I do find one or two that have been nibbled but on the whole, they don't really seem to be touched.
I have started harvesting strawberries this week! This drop of rain should make the fruit swell better! they have been a little on the dry side!

[Tee Gee]

Wimbledon week  is my usual 'eating' date.

Might be a tad later this year!........When is Wimbledon this year?

[Pink Fingers]

Starts on 21 June - not too long to wait

[Poppy Mole]

I've got one in my pot that looks as though it will ripen just in time for my little Grandsons visit.

[anemone]

still just flowers on mine - and holiday getting closer and closer !

I'd pot up the runners cornykev, can't have too many strawberries :) I have some little seedlings waiting to go out still of the pink flowered ones.

[cornykev]

Poppy theres a hundred or so of them, :o I was wondering if the plants were going to give too much energy to the runners instead of concentrating on the fruit.  :-\     ;D ;D ;D

[calendula]

they'll do both with no problem and you could always feed them a little to cope with the extra work and then just think, you'll have a whole new bed of them for free, yippeee  ;D