Strawberries are very simple to produce and do not require much care.
Because my spouse enjoys pudding, strawberries are a popular weekly treat in our house! We can make the weekly treat almost all year with continuous fertilizing, irrigation, and covering. Lexi, our little grandchild, who is frequently found in the strawberry field consuming strawberries to her heart’s and tummy’s delight, is another frequent guest to our vegetable garden besides the animals. Strawberry farming is also a good method to expose children to gardening because the fruit are simple to produce and delectable to consume.
We have two strawberry plots that we maintain running for two to three years before replanting with runners. We never remake both mattresses in the same year because it would risk our weekly strawberry puddings! We can still choose from the one bed while the new bed settles in.
When to plant
The months of March, April, and May are ideal for establishing strawberry gardens.
Planting strawberries
Strawberries thrive in direct light. Make a metre-wide bed, excavate it to a spade’s depth, and fill it with fertilizer and well-rotted dung. Add several handfuls of bone powder and a scattering of citrus per square metre. Allow your soil to rest for a week or two before sowing. Purchase healthy strawberry plants or use your own strawberry runners, and space them 40 centimeters apart, firming the plant down so that the top is not submerged. Mulch tightly around the top of each plant, making sure that all of the foliage are visible above the mulch.
Watering and feeding
Strawberries need a lot of water or else they will be tiny and desiccated. Drip irrigation is the finest way of fertilizing because it wet the roots rather than the foliage, which prevents fungus growth on the leaves. If you feed your strawberries a liquid fertilizer once a month, you will be repaid with succulent, delicious strawberries.
Propagation
The plants send out runners, which are technically called stolons, but for the sake of simplicity, we’ll call them runners. Runners are lengthy stalks that grow from the mother plant and produce young strawberry plants; they are extremely simple to reproduce. When the plant shoots out a runner over the earth’s surface, the node at the end creates roots when it comes into touch with the soil. You can remove the stem once the new plant has established itself.
Catch the runners
One strawberry plant will send out many runners, but it is best to eliminate these runners because they will drain the mother plant’s vitality and keep her from creating more fruit. Perhaps this is why we have berries all year, because all of our seedlings are clipped off and sent to the nursery to create new plants. Pay careful attention if you want healthy producing strawberries, and eliminate runners before they begin growing unless you intend to use them for multiplication.
Pests and diseases
Botrytis, a colourless fungus, can wreak havoc on strawberry berries and foliage. Remove any spoiled or mushy produce. Snails and snails also enjoy strawberries; either hand-pick them at night or capture them with food. Our grounds appear to be infested with slugs and snails, which is not unexpected given that a single slug can produce up to 800 embryos per year.
Picking
Strawberries should be picked when they are ready. Wash them only just before consuming, not after harvesting, because the cherries retain best when they are dry.
Strawberry Jam
500g strawberries
Juice of one lemon
500g sugar
- Crush and simmer the fruit until soft.
- Stir in the sugar and lemon juice until the sugar dissolves.
- Boil rapidly until set.
EMERALD SEEDLINGS
Alpes Rd, Teviotdale, Harare
(opp Wingate Golf course)
Gill 0772 301 440
Cosmas 0772 382 081
Trees, bushes, citrus trees, lawn inserts, and floral seeds, both native and foreign.
