How to Make a Better Strawberry Pallet Planter.

* Lovely Greens *: How to Make a Better Strawberry Pallet Planter:

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Proper Mulch for Strawberries.

Proper Mulch for Strawberries | Home Guides | SF Gate:
Pine Needles
Pine needles, also called pine straw, are a proper mulch for strawberries and slightly increase the acidity of the soil as they decompose. They are an ideal alternative to plastic mulch for strawberry patches with slug problems. Plastic mulch creates a moist environment slugs love, while sharp and prickly pine needles repel these creatures. Mulch with about 2 to 3 inches of pine needles a few weeks after planting or right after the plants blossom. Add pine needles to create a depth of 3 to 4 inches to insulate overwintering plants from the cold.
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Strawberries. My mail-order!

Order Strawberries today!
- Blackmoor Nurseries - 1 x Strawberry Buddy - 10 Runners Bare Root (STRZ33) = £8.20+Delivery (Royal Mail First Class): £3.80=Total: £12.00
Strawberry 'Buddy' has it all - heavy crops, quality berries and a fabulous, sweet flavour, even in hot weather. Bred at world renowned East Malling Research centre, this exciting new strawberry variety will provide a continuous supply of large, deep red berries from late June through to October. Height: 20cm (8"). Spread: 30cm (12").
Estimated time to cropping once planted: 4-8 months.
Estimated time to best yields: 4-8 months.
Perpetual strawberries.

- Ken Muir - Strawberry 'Gariguette' - Pack of 12 (Early) - Total: £12.08
Muir will be showing strawberries at Chelsea for the 34th successive year. His useful booklet, Grow Your Own Strawberries, is sent out with orders.

Strawberry 'Gariguette' is an old and much-loved French variety that produces sweet and aromatic fruits early in the season. Grow in full sun for the greatest depth of flavour. The point about a strawberry like 'Gariguette' is that you are unlikely to be able to buy it because it does not keep or travel well.

Strawberry varieties are categorised as early midsummer, midsummer and late midsummer fruiters. There are also perpetual or remontant varieties which will fruit both in July and again in late summer/early autumn, but can be de-blossomed in May to produce a heavy late crop.
The sweetest strawberries
Early midsummer for southern gardens, 'Gariguette'; elsewhere 'Claire-Maree'.
Midsummer 'Cambridge Late Pine' for its divine flavour. 'Hapil' and 'Maxim' for drought resistance and heavy yields. 'Maxim' is a large strawberry suitable for the showbench. 'Marshmello' crops heavily in a range of conditions and has a rich, intense flavour.
Late midsummer 'Symphony' and 'Florence' are quite disease-resistant. 'Symphony' does well in the north.
Pink-flowered 'Viva Rosa' looks pretty in hanging baskets and containers.
The perpetual 'Mara des Bois' has an alpine taste and resistance to powdery mildew.

Крупноплодная садовая земляника или клубника, виктория.

- Петрушка посевная, или кудрявая. Растение высевают по бордюру гряд земляники. Это предохраняет ягоды от повреждения улитками.

- Перед посадкой кустиков в каждую лунку вносят смесь органики: 1 ведро земли + 1 ведро компоста + 1 ведро перепревшего навоза + 2 стакана золы.
- В начале августа под крону каждого куста заделывают по полстакана золы, что благотворно скажется на подготовке к зиме и будущем урожае.
- Для отпугивания вредителей земляники на грядку можно высадить несколько растений томата, лука, чеснока, бархатцев, укропа.

We Grow Our Own!
Земляника садовая, клубника в саду.
"К моменту окончания плодоношения скосить все земляничные кусты практически "под ноль". Отрастающие усы ослабляют материнские растения, замедляют их рост, снижают зимостойкость и урожайность, поэтому их необходимо удалять, за исключением тех, которые предназначены для рассады - рассаду лучше брать от молодых – 1-3 летних – растений, оставляя по одному усу с хорошо развитой розеткой от каждого куста.
Землянику можно сажать в течение всего вегетационного периода, начиная с ранней весны и до осенью. При посадке необходимо следить за тем, чтобы корневая шейка куста и основание листьев с почкой – сердечко – находились на уровне поверхности почвы. Если земляника посажена глубоко и сердечко засыпано землёй, она загнивает и погибает. При мелкой посадке и частичном обнажении корней растение засохнет или будет слабо развиваться.
Разрыхлить гряды вокруг кустиков.
Одновременно можно подсыпать вокруг кустов удобрение, закрывая его землёй.
После окончания этого этапа берете лёгкие небольшие грабли и выравниваете всю поверхность обработанной земляничной грядки.
Уже через неделю у земляники вырастают новые свежие листья.
За оставшуюся часть августа и сентябрь кусты земляники разрастутся и примут свой обычный вид взрослых кустов. В таком виде грядка уходит на зиму."

Growing Strawberries.

Growing Strawberries | Strawberry Plants .org: "Companion Planting Strawberries"
Strawberry Plant Propagation | Strawberry Plants .org: "Strawberry Propagation by Plant Division"
Strawberry Varieties: "There are however a few sub categories to this variety; early season, early midseason, midseason, late midseason and Late season. "
Growing and Propagating Strawberries:
You cannot choose your soil, but you can improve it. Over-enriched soils will tend to grow lush green leaves as opposed to luscious red fruits, so it pays to restrain your organic fervour.

Check the soil pH and amend, if necessary, to about 6.5. A soil manured the previous year gives an ideal start. Such a soil will need the addition of garden compost at 1 barrow to 4m2, plus 75g per m2 each of bone meal and seaweed meal. If your soil is particularly short of nutrients apply one barrow of well rotted manure per 12 m2 in addition.

Both heavy and light soils benefit from leafmould. Moreover, strawberries thrive in it. Work in a 5cm layer to the top 10cm of soil just prior to planting.
Growing Strawberries | Strawberry Plants .org: "Growing Strawberries"

Growing and Propagating Strawberries:
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Strawberries.

Went to the allotment the other day to check how the strawberries were coping with all this rain.
The plants are heavily laden with fruit and I did get to pick and eat a few that were showing signs of looking ripe.
But strawberries need to be sunkissed, if only for a moment.
Picking them on a hot day is the ideal, but if left in the sun after picking they quickly lose their sheen and cook in their own warmth, so need chilling fast.

Every three years or so it is good to start a new bed in fresh ground anyway.
Container-growing which is well worth copying to make use of a relatively small space for a high yield.
Any containers will do but a couple of rows of bog-standard black florists buckets are ideal.
Make holes in the bottom before filling with compost and planting one plant in each.
The containers need to be positioned somewhere sunny and a layer of permeable weed suppressing matting underneath will save on maintenance later.
Posts knocked in place at either end of the rows with washing line strung across means they are set for netting.
Keeping fruit off the ground means less chance of slug damage.
You might like to feed with comfrey tea now and again when the fruit begins to set.
You can choose a perpetual fruiting strawberry variety - early season Gariguette variety alongside a classic Cambridge Favourite, that is particularly good for jam.

Strawberry taste comparison.

We asked professional strawberry growers, the RHS, the chef Raymond Blanc as well as our own gardening team for their favourite strawberry for sweetness, flavour and a bountiful harvest;
Alpine strawberry ‘Mignonette’ was recommended by both Alys and Raymond Blanc.
Strawberry ‘Darlisette’ is Toby’s choice, for its almost nutty crunch.
Strawberry ‘Marie de Bois’ is the favourite of Carol Klein. Raymond Blanc and the RHS’s Jim Arbury consider it a favourite too. It can be difficult to find, as it is only licensed to be grown in France and therefore can be listed in catalogues under different names; ‘Mara des Bois’ or ‘Marais de Bois’.
Joe grew Strawberry ‘Marshmello’ on his allotment, and has named it as his choice for this comparison.
We will also be growing Strawberry ‘Cambridge Favourite’ the nations most widely grown strawberry.
We are also growing these varieties, recommended by professional growers- Elegance, Judibell, Gariguette, Honeoye, Maxim, Sonata, Fenella, Tarpan, Irresistible, and Flamenco
http://www.saga.co.uk/lifestyle/gardening/q-and-a/grow-your-own-strawberries.aspx
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/3288/

Many types of strawberry plants will, either by nature or if encouraged by pruning runners, put out lateral crowns at the base of the strawberry plant. These lateral crowns can be divided and replanted to propagate strawberry plants. Additionally, the genetically generative rhizomes of strawberry plants can, under the right circumstances, be divided into multiple pieces with each piece being sufficient to grow a new plant.

There are, however, several drawbacks to this type of strawberry propagation. Often, the mother plant will be compromised (if not done correctly) and will die. Thus, the net increase of strawberry plants is diminished. Also, it tends to be more labor-intensive and technical as the division or cutting takes both precision and a bit of expertise. However, for well-funded or commercial operations, this division can be used to propagate cloned plants quickly and extensively.


http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/3685/#b
http://strawberryplants.org/2010/05/transplanting-strawberries/

Growing Strawberries in Small Spaces.

Edible Landscaping with Charlie Nardozzi :: National Gardening Association: "AboutOur"

The Berries
There are four different types of strawberries you can grow. June-bearing strawberries such as 'Earliglow', 'Jewel,' and 'Cabot' are the most common. They produce in early summer and send out runners freely, quickly filling in a bed with their daughter plants. These grow best in raised beds where they have room to roam.
Day-neutral strawberry varieties such as 'Evie,' 'Albion,' and 'Seascape' produce small crops of berries in cycles all season long. They don't send out as many runners as June-bearers, so are well-suited to hanging baskets, large containers, and strawberry jars. Everbearing varieties, such as 'Tribute' and 'Tristar', produce a spring and late summer crop with little production in between. They also have fewer runners than June bearers.
Alpine strawberries such as 'Mignonette,' Rugen Improved,' and 'Yellow Wonder' (yellow fruited variety) are improved versions of the wild strawberry. They produce small, sweet tasting fruits from spring until fall. The plants are bushy and diminutive but do spread slowly over time. They are great grown in baskets, containers, or in front of a flower or herb bed. Sometimes found in garden centers and on-line, you'll be able to grow a wider variety of alpine strawberries if you grow them from seed. Unlike other strawberries, alpine varieties grow well and produce in part shade, especially in warm climates.

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Plant All 3 Types of Strawberries.

Plant All 3 Types of Strawberries | The Trusty Gardener's Blog: "Copyright"

June-bearing strawberries have one large crop of large berries each year. This is great if you are interested in freezing or making jellies. There are early, mid-season and late varieties, so you can extend the harvest time by a few weeks by choosing some of each, but all produce in early summer.
Everbearing strawberries can produce fruit when the days exceed 12 hours of daylight. This usually results in a moderately heavy crop in early summer, a few berries through the summer, and a light crop in late summer or fall. The total harvest of ever-bearers will be less than the single crop of June-bearing berries, but the spreading out of the crop is sometimes desireable.
Everbearing cultivars produce few runners. This makes it easier to keep track of the plants, and keeps them from running out of the beds into the lawn or pathways, but you may need to buy new plants when it is time to renovate the bed.
Day-neutral strawberry cultivars produce fruit and runners throughout the growing season with three peaks: early-June, mid-July and late August. Temperatures over 75o F stop bud formation, so not as many fruit are formed when it is really hot. Cooler soil temperatures result in larger berries, too. Day-neutral berries are normally smaller than other types, but they are delicious.
One type of day-neutral strawberry, the alpine strawberry, may be easily grown from seed. Alpine strawberry plants produce tiny, delectable berries and make excellent edging or groundcover plants.

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Asters.

Fresh as a daisy: Michaelmas daisies add autumnal gaiety to any border | Daily Mail Online: The great strength of Michaelmas daisies, apart from the range of colours they provide, is that this is their time. Michaelmas, or the Feast of St Michael, falls on 29 September, so the plants are always associated with the start of autumn.
The easiest asters (to give Michaelmas daisies their botanical name) to grow are the novi-belgii cultivars.
- A novi-belgii 'Gurney Slade', 'Professor Anton Kippenberg' and 'Mistress Quickly'. All rich violets and purple and massed petals.
- In the pink shades, 'Coombe Gladys' and 'Lady Frances'.
- 'Dusky Maid', 'Winston S Churchill' and 'Prunella' - deep plum-coloured ones.
- New England asters, Aster novae-angliae , which are pretty much pest- and disease-resistant. 'Barr's Violet' is a good purple, as is 'Violetta'. 'Lou Williams' and 'Septemberrubin' are just on the pink side of plum.
- A amellus 'King George', 'Veilchenkönigin' has smaller flower heads but is deeper and more intense in colour, 'Nocturne', which has deep lilac flowers on 3ft tall stems.
- Aster x frikartii. Named the results after Swiss mountains. 'Jungfrau' and 'Eiger' remain good rich lilac/purples, the only real difference being that 'Jungfrau' is more compact and floriferous. 'Mönch'.
Flower focus | Life and style | The Observer: New York Asters.
Although they have been grown in Europe since the 17th century, New York Asters have only been seriously hybridised in the past 100 years. The result is a range of rich, intense colours that work perfectly against autumn's fading light. 'Gurney Slade' 'Mistress Quickly' and 'Professor Anton Kippenberg' are all violet and purple with massed petals, while 'Coombe Gladys' and 'Lady Francis' are halfway between magenta and purple. Even better are all the deep plum-coloured ones. Try 'Dusky Maid', 'Winston S Churchill' and 'Prunella'.

All New York Asters are prone to mildew, which covers the leaves in white fungus. To combat this, grow them in rich, damp soil. In thin, sandy soil it is also hard to avoid grey fungal rot which thrives in hot, dry conditions. It starts mid summer and can almost finish the plant off before it flowers. Best bet is to grow resistant varieties like Aster x frikartii which has long petals and loves very well-drained soil and Aster novae-angliae (from New England) which tends to come in pink. Both are amazingly tough and spread about a foot a year.

In focus: Asters - Telegraph:
The true 'Mönch' is hard to find, but a good nursery, such as Four Seasons or Cotswold Garden Flowers, should be able to supply the authentic form. Its blue daisies appear for almost four months, it needs no staking, and it is healthy.
Aster lateriflorus 'Horizontalis' looks distinguished at any time of year.
Growing tips
Most soils in sun or partial shade will suit asters.
If you give them too much nourishment, they will become lax and floppy.
Most varieties need staking, firmly. Autumn winds can make asters look very messy.
Division is best done in spring rather than in autumn. But you can also do it in August so that plants make new roots in warm soil.
Many of the old A. novi-belgii group are very invasive. If you are desperate to the kind of asters found in old gardens, try planting them in long grass, where they can look quite romantic.
Where to buy
Four Seasons Forncett St Mary, Norwich, Norfolk NR16 1JT (01508 488344; www.fsperennials.co.uk) - mail order only.
Cotswold Garden Flowers Sands Lane, Badsey, Evesham, Worcestershire WR11 5EZ (01386 833849; www.cgf.net).
To buy asters from greenfingers.com click here.
To buy asters from crocus.co.uk.
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