Hello, what do you lot use for under your strawbs to stop the fruit getting dirty. Would grass cuttings be any good?
will shredded paper be any good as a temporary measure until my other half gets round to getting some straw of her farmer mate?
Grass cuttings should be fine, but only use half an inch or so.
Straw tends to harbour fewer Slugs
we have inherited a largish strawberry patch when we moved. looking a bit sad now, saw Gardners World and old Monty chopped them down and then spread compost mulch over them liberally. Is this the way to go ? There is currently old straw from last year around them.
Should I remove straw, chop them back, mulch them, and then re-straw with fresh straw - if so when? TIA
I put fresh straw around the strawberries each year.
Thomas
Hi Northener,
Last year in the absence of anything else I used fleece (which was fine at the time but I still have a few plants in my patch with roots stuck through old fleece)
Col
weed fabric seems popular in the allotments around me so i followed suit and it seems fine.
Around now, I lightly shear off the oldish leaves, then apply a mulch of compost. I don't put compost on in the autumn. When the fruit starts to come, I sometimes put clean straw under the clusters of fruit.
I take it from these replies that you all have new growth on your strawberry plants now then ????
I have nothing still - pulled one out of the earth - no growth on the roots either - my whole batch of plants bought last year are still dead-looking. Think I should give up as a bad lot ???
Will contact suppliers I think - although they said wait to May/June for growth - but I would have thought there would have been SOME sign of growth by now - ???
Quote from: jennym on April 15, 2006, 00:44:58
Around now, I lightly shear off the oldish leaves, then apply a mulch of compost. I don't put compost on in the autumn. When the fruit starts to come, I sometimes put clean straw under the clusters of fruit.
thanks, that answered my queries. thought I was becoming inivisible ;D
Quote from: sumbody on April 15, 2006, 18:07:50
I take it from these replies that you all have new growth on your strawberry plants now then ????
I have nothing still - pulled one out of the earth - no growth on the roots either - my whole batch of plants bought last year are still dead-looking. Think I should give up as a bad lot ???
Will contact suppliers I think - although they said wait to May/June for growth - but I would have thought there would have been SOME sign of growth by now - ???
Sumbody, perhaps your plants were Autumn fruiting. If the supplier said wait until May/June for growth, I would do just that especially with the cold winter we have had.