Just had new strawberry plants delivered. Are they ok to go in the ground now or am I best potting them up and putting them somewhere sheltered until it gets a bit warmer?
I put mine into the ground a couple of weeks ago (my own runners grown from 'Red Cascade' strawberries) and they've been fine, even through the -5 night we had last week.
Strawberries dont mind a bit of cold I hear.
Cheers - I'll get them in over the weekend,
We did some at the weekend as well Stan!
;D
B****y Strawberries were my nightmare this morning. I am going to build a new Polly Tunnel but before i can start, i have to empty my trench, i have potted on over a hundred so far and that only about one third.
Don,t suppose any one living near me wants a couple of hundred. I will pay YOU to take them LOL
Davy where in the allotment World are you? ;D. I could use some strawberry plants please :P
Here are my strawbs, they're trailing kind so I put them in this old tub.
I know, I know they're far too close together, 17 strawberry plants! Well it works like this I got hundreds last year. Stones on the bottom for drainage, loads of manure and topped up with compost.
I'll add a pic in month by month to show you how they come on.
(http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stan.shepherd/strawbs.jpg)
Quote from: Lauren S on March 07, 2008, 21:14:24
Davy where in the allotment World are you? ;D. I could use some strawberry plants please :P
Lauren, We may as well be on the opposite sides of this planet i live in the North East,and lucky you sunny Devon which was at one time along with Cornwall my favorite haunt for walking the coastal paths.
Quote from: sawfish on March 07, 2008, 21:17:26
Here are my strawbs, they're trailing kind so I put them in this old tub.
Déjà Vu, I've used a virtually identical tub to keep some of my spare runners in this year. I spent a sunny morning today sorting out a load of 'Maxim' strawberries from underneath my cordon apples....big berries but disappointing taste... :-\
I am umming and aaarring as to wether or not to do away with my strawberry plants. Yes they are delicious but what a pain in the ass clearing the runners later in the year.
True. I'm thinking of trying to rig up something like a suspended strawberry rack on a trestle type arrangement, using a bit of old carpet to hold the soil. It would use up the stuff I still have lying around the plot and maybe fool the birds and bugs?
Mine are in pots, and are staying there until i clear some space for them! That's likely to be when I harvest the onions.
I just train the long runners into 3 inch pots on the ground beside my tub. Its an easy way to do it.
Is it true that strawberries taste better if they get more sun?
Yes it definatly seems that way, also a good dollop of very well rotted manure under the roots appears to add flavour too........thankfully a sweet flavour :D
Yes it definatly seems that way, also a good dollop of very well rotted manure under the roots appears to add flavour too........thankfully a sweet flavour :D
not cream then? ;D
I went on a skip raid the other day and found a old pressure barrel, I thought just the job for my strawberries. So now I`m in cutting holes around the sides and when the new runners come along I`ll plant them in the holes and make a strawberries tower out of the barrel, that will also make it easy to control any future runners that will pop along.
On the strawberry subject, I want to have a bed of these (another thing for the list).
Thing is, I had heard that they like a good chill over the winter, and thought I had missed the boat for planting them this year.
Sounds as though they can go in now though?
I haven't even dug the bed yet, so it will be a week or so before I can get them in. Is there a special type that I need to get if they are going in the ground rather than in tubs?
I was thinking of using a large compost bag, and cutting holes out of it, like a strawberry pot.
Im experimenting with ideas??? Would they grow like that?
I have plenty of stones for the bottom for drainage, and loads of manure. Thought I would put them next to the potato bags thats I have made up.
iM SURE THEY WOULD GROW JUST FINE sbl...............(CAPS LOCK SOTTY)
Put them in, don't let them fruit, and grow them on for next year. It's what I'm doing, and they should be really well established for next season.
Quote from: springbokgirlie on March 08, 2008, 16:43:50
I was thinking of using a large compost bag, and cutting holes out of it, like a strawberry pot.
That's the way I do it.
10 plants to a 56 ltr bag of compost. The bags are on a table. I cut 10 holes in the top for plants plus another two for watering. I insert an old pop bottle into the watering hole and pour into that - much easier and quicker.
Also cut a number of short slits along the bottom of the bag for drainage, otherwise the rots will rot.
First year I don't add any feed, but second and third I do. After three years, replace plants and bags.
Pro's - Don't get slugs or weeds. No bits of soil in the fruit. No bending over to pick. Runners are easy to harvest/control.
Con's - Need watering regularly, more so than if in the ground. Cost - I pay £4 or £5 for each bag. Bags need putting on the ground over the frost period - their heavy and moving could damage the root systems, so need to be careful (& not buy too big a bag that I cant lift).
I am tyring a number of different bags. Have tried Mirical-Grow Multi-P. (yellow bag), Mirical-Grow Moisture control (blue bag) and Levingtons Multi-P with waterlock (red bag). All appear to work equally as well.
I'm going to try a bag of farm manure this year and maybe a double thick growbag.
Quote from: star on March 08, 2008, 01:12:22
Yes it definatly seems that way, also a good dollop of very well rotted manure
Not to mention a good dollop of well clotted cream ;D
Stuck my plant in pots as not had time to get to allotment - need to dog over the beds ready and put down some fabric and (get some manure)