Strawberry plants are cheap and easy to grow. Strawberries can be picked from spring to autumn if you choose the right varieties.

Make a Strawberry Bed

• Mark out a rectangular plot, 10 feet square will produce a reasonable crop.
• Dig over the ground and add 2-3 buckets of organic matter per square yard.
• Buy plants in September or April that are guaranteed disease free
• Plant in rows 16″ apart, water and keep watered until the plants are established.
• A board around the edge of the bed makes it look tidy.

Growing Strawberries

• When fruit appear put straw or black polythene under the fruit to keep slugs off and the fruit clean.
• Birds may want to feast on your strawberries so put some string or netting across the bed.
• Plants will crop for 3 years but start off a new bed to maintain continuity.
• Runners should be removed or they will sap the strength from the plant resulting in less fruit.
• To avoid disease don’t plant strawberries where peppers, tomatoes, eggplant and potatoes have been grown.

24 varieties of Strawberry are available from  Thompson Morgan.

Tips. Strawberries do not need much feeding but do need plenty of water when fruiting.