my 1st strawberry patch
Bonsai-Marc
Posts: 444
in Fruit & veg
i dont even eat the things but had a spare space and my baby daughter loves them so i have planted ready for next year. i got a nice deal of cambridge strawberries off ebay and read now is good to plant so can settle for winter for a bumper crop in the summer.
after the initial wilt a couple of weeks ago when pic taken they have now perked up and new leaves appearing.
i cant wait to see what i get next year
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Hope you'll show us your first pickings
would it be recommended to leaf mulch around the plants soon before winter, they are slightly raised off ground, maybe susceptible to the frosts
?
They do respond well to an organic mulch - compost or leaf mould - but I don't suppose much of it would get through that very neat sheet of fabric. They don't need frost protection - they're completely hardy - but if you were to put cloches over some of them (or even a layer of fleece) they'd fruit earlier and so give a longer season.
Once the plants are sufficiently established to shade out most of the weeds I think I'd remove that sheet of whatever it is and mulch heavily with compost. (I suppose you could then put it back on...)
Until they've finished fruiting next summer, you must cut off all the runners that appear to make sure all the plants' strength goes into fruits. After that you can allow one or two runners per plant to develop and persuade them to root in the middle of those gaps, Then you'll have twice as many plants and a lot more fruit
ok ill leave it and see, the fabric is supposed to help keep slugs away and keep the fruit from sitting in water, as like putting straw down
Yes - they do need protecting. I'd put mats of cardboard or something similar under each plant when the fruits start forming, but there's more than one way to.... Straw is good for slugs. i.e. they like it. The name comes from their habit of strewing themselves about with th runners.
very helpful. Just waiting for my plants to arrive to go into my newly created raised bed. So exciting!
im going to leave the fabric all year and let them grow and cut back the runners.
then the following year i will let some take so as to replace one row and continue that every year replacing a different row so each year is a new batch constantly replacing each other
I have just planted Elegance strawberries in black covering. They are coming on well. Thanks Steve for mentioning slugs like straw I have never heard that.
Thank you Philippa will keep an eye on them.
just found my 1st flower on one of the strawberry plants..... Its December!!
warmish Autumn i suppose but starting to get colder down in Kent