To say that a strawberry is a fruit is to call Jimmy Hendrix a guitar player. Sure, it’s true, but it also misses the point entirely. The strawberry is the ace of the garden and the king of the plate. It is an object of desire equally welcomed in Eros’s private bathhouse and in a child’s lunchbox. But it’s not just daiquiri makers who covet this sweet flesh – rats, slugs, birds and bats are similarly enamoured. Like looking at a campfire, the strawberry stirs some primal longing within all of us.
Although we are all very familiar with the summer-bearing supermarket strawberry, few people realise that there are hundreds of weird and wonderful varieties that you can grow yourself. As is often the case, what we see on the shelves has been selected for commercial characteristics, such as size, yield and disease resistance, often at the expense of taste. There are red, white, blue, black, green and even purple strawberries. Consider the pineberry: a white strawberry with red seeds and a pineapple-like taste. Hands up if you’d like to grow this? Thought so.
Strawberries are also a great small-space variety and prime candidate for growing in a pot or wall garden unit.
PLANTING
Use a free draining soil well integrated with compost o good quality potting mix when growing in pots. Chill seeds (use freezer) in a sealed jar for 2 weeks prior to planting and let them return to room temperature before sowing. Germination can take up to one month, so be patient; your daiquiri is not far off.
WATERING
In ground: Water daily for the first 4 weeks and 3-4 times a week in the absence of rainfall thereafter.
In Pots: Water daily, in the absence of rainfall, for the entirety of the warm season, and then cut back to watering every second day during the cooler times of the year.
MAINTENANCE
Add compost and slow-release nitrogen-rich fertiliser. Plant seedlings or runners near any alliums. Mulch with 3–5cm of pea straw or sugar cane mulch.
Apply a monthly dose of liquid seaweed solution.
Avoid over-wetting the foliage during watering, as this makes it more susceptible to fungal diseases.
As the strawberries begin to develop, they become the target of every pest around. Netting is advisable, as well as good snail and slug defences. Growing off the ground is a great way to overcome pests. If you notice runners forming, break them free to refocus energy on fruit production. These can be planted elsewhere in the patch.
Depending on where you live, strawberries can produce over extended periods, particularly in temperate and warmer conditions. However, once winter sets in the older foliage will begin to die back and should be freed up from the plant.
A month before it’s second season feed the plant with compost and a slow-release nitrogen-rich fertiliser. The strawberry plant will produce for a number of years. However, production will peak and then begin to decline after its third year.
HARVESTING
Time until first harvest: 120+ days
How to harvest: Harvest individual berries by pinching or snipping them at their stem.
TIP
Most pests can be avoided by growing the plants off the ground. Because the strawberry is rather shallow rooted, your growing infrastructure doesn’t need to be a feat of engineering.
