Your strawberry plants should be starting to grow again around now.

Keep plants well watered. Because they are shallow rooting plants, strawberries can dry out very quickly in hot weather, and your crop will be affected.

When the fruits start to appear, cover the ground around your plants with a fairly thick layer of straw. Try and get ‘weed free’ straw. Barley is the best. If no straw can be found, use black plastic.

Covering the ground in this way keeps the weeds down, and stops the fruits being in contact with the soil, where they will rot very quickly or get eaten by the slugs. If you use black plastic, the slugs will still find your fruits. So keep an eye on them or use any trick in the book you can to keep them away.

We’ve found a good slug proof material this year. The pure wool found in food packaging. It’s organic and the slugs hate the fibres. Anything dry and fibrous should repel slugs and snails.

Birds

Growing strawberries in your garden will encourage just about every garden bird you can imagine. The trouble is, they will ALL eat your strawberries …… if you let them!

Make a small wooden frame to stand over your strawberry bed, and cover in fine netting. Don’t use heavy materials, as you will want to move the cover every day during cropping season. Use light wood, and perhaps tent pegs or the equivalent to secure it against being blown over by the wind or knocked over by cats and dogs.

NB:Always use wildlife friendly fine netting so birds don’t get their wings tangled.

Remove the ‘runners’ – little plants coming off the main plant, before they root. This will encourage your ‘mother’ plant to produce more fruit. Re-pot or re-plant these ‘baby’ plants in a new bed.

Pick your strawberries every day in season.

With good weather and a fairly long growing season, strawberries can produce up to 3 crops a year.

Happy Gardening!

Linda x

P.S. This handy download will help you get the most from your strawberry plants and it’s super cheap!

How to Grow Strawberries

Whether as a perfect accompaniment to champagne or a summer afternoon treat with cream, strawberries are a popular garden fruit and can be grown in containers, specially designed planters or in a regular strawberry bed. You may even be able to start your strawberry bed with free plants.

How to Grow Strawberries is a mini guide to growing these luxurious vitamin packed fruits at home. Treat yourself and your family to the freshest, tastiest fruits that keep the family healthy and coming back for more.

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