Strawberry Patch

[olly-buckle]

I can't protect mine like Zigs so i just have to share them.

It doesn't need a full blown tunnel, I use hoops of blue plastic water pipe slotted over bamboos stuck in the ground, then covered with anything from polythene to old net curtains.

 

[Logan]

It doesn't need a full blown tunnel, I use hoops of blue plastic water pipe slotted over bamboos stuck in the ground, then covered with anything from polythene to old net curtains.

Thanks for the advice Olly but it wouldn't look good in the front garden with all the other plants.

 

[Tetters]

Surely Logan, if you only want the garden to look pretty for passers by, you wouldn't even consider growing edibles there would you? If you don't have a back garden space for fruit or veggies, maybe you could put a screen fence up so that the neighbours can't see them? Food crops have to take priority, especially these days when our food supply is likely to become more scarce. @olly-buckle has given you some brilliant advice there, and the low down mini tunnel idea is an excellent one which could be disguised even with a rose bush and a few marigolds.
I have no qualms at all about including protective supports in my flower gardens if they are needed for intermingled fruit or veggies. We can't eat the flowers.
Some people grow their strawberries in hanging baskets in a good sunny place, but even then you need to protect them from birds and slugs.

 

[Logan]

I've got a back garden space that has fruit bushes in as well but i don't cover them.

 

[Tetters]

Well then maybe you could find space there to move your strawberries to, then you could make the little tunnels like Olly suggested. It would help to keep the birds off, and if you put a few upside down pots near there, the slugs would hide under them, and you could get rid of them in the salt pot. Then you will get some strawberries, and just need to buy a pot of cream to go with them
The little tunnels work just as well as our netted big tunnel. We've made them the same way as Ollie said.

 

[Zigs]

It doesn't need a full blown tunnel, I use hoops of blue plastic water pipe slotted over bamboos stuck in the ground, then covered with anything from polythene to old net curtains.

I've done that Olly

 

[Mike]

We don't have a top on ours at all. Ours are in an old plastic container that we cut in half. It's about a four foot square and it works great!

Once fall hits, and the plants are starting to die off, or go dormant, we cover them with some straw hay to protect them from the cold, but they'll come back again next spring strong as ever.

 

[olly-buckle]

Thanks for the advice Olly but it wouldn't look good in the front garden with all the other plants.

I was thinking about this and wondered how many strawberries you might lose to those passers by.

 

[Zigs]

I was thinking about this and wondered how many strawberries you might lose to those passers by.

That reminds me of something - Bloke in the South of France got fed up of passing Onion sellers pinching the grapes from the vines on the roadside of his property so he went into the shed and mixed up something to spray on them that would taste 'orrible but would wash off afterwards.

He just happened to have some lime and copper sulphate.

Not sure if it stopped folk pinching his grapes but later on he noticed these grape vines were the only ones that didn't get covered in mildew.

He'd invented Bordeaux Mixture, good job he didn't live in Brest

 

[olly-buckle]

Slaked lime wouldn't be so bad , but copper sulphate?

" The systemic effects of poisoning are seen primarily on red blood cells, gastrointestinal system, kidneys and cardiovascular system "

Not nice.

 

[Zigs]

Slaked lime wouldn't be so bad , but copper sulphate?

" The systemic effects of poisoning are seen primarily on red blood cells, gastrointestinal system, kidneys and cardiovascular system "

Not nice.

Yep, primarily it would stop people eating the grapes as it tasted like badger's wee. Now we use it on tomatoes we always wash it off before eating

 

[olly-buckle]

I always wash everything before eating, my hippie friends used to make fun of me and eat stuff straight from the plant, they all got worms.

 

[MamaHawk]

Just wanted to share a picture of this strawberry. It's really several but they all grew together into one lump. My 17 year old son was super excited about this thing.

Can't wait to get this thing, and all the others, into a batch of strawberry jam (hopefully next weekend).

View attachment 17

Amazing! I tried to grow strawberries, but given that they were just a bag of roots from Walmart, I didn't have high hopes, and literally nothing came of any of them...are they the kind of thing that seem dead until the next year, or are they all goners?

 

[MamaHawk]

Oooooo, I want.

Ditto

 

[Mike]

Amazing! I tried to grow strawberries, but given that they were just a bag of roots from Walmart, I didn't have high hopes, and literally nothing came of any of them...are they the kind of thing that seem dead until the next year, or are they all goners?

If you plant them in early spring, they should grow throughout spring into early summer. Ours have been producing strawberries for about a month now, but with our temps getting up into the upper 90s (Fahrenheit), I don't suspect they'll be alive much longer. They'll soon go dormant, all the leaves will start to die, and they'll stay that way until next spring.