Strawberries

It's getting to that time of year when we go to the allotment to do work but half the time is spent harvesting produce. That's really good. At the moment that produce is strawberries. There are loads of them. In fact this must be the best year ever for growing strawberries--for me that is. I have never had so many strawberries.  I'm really enjoying them and I'm wondering what I'm doing right that makes this year's crop such a good one.

Well  the strawberries had plenty of manure early on in the year. Then I put straw under the plants to keep the fruit clean and netted them against the birds. Some of them are still being munched by slugs, but most of them are beautiful fruit. I don't mind sharing a few fruit with the wildlife as long as I get most of them. In previous years I never got around to putting the straw and netting down and it was always a race to get to the fruit before the birds or slugs.

Last year I potted up a lot of plants from the runners and these new plants were planted in the bath at the allotment.  The strawberries I planted in the bath  are not as good, and the ones in my garden also have not done as well. So the allotment beds seem to be providing the best conditions. But strawberries need to be replaced every three or four years.  They get better after the first year and then start to get less productive after the third year. The ones in the bath are in their first year and those in my garden beds are probably in their third or fourth year.  So that might explain why they are not as productive.

 We are really enjoying our strawberries.  The best way to eat them I think is from a bowl topped with cream or ice cream.  I have also been having them for breakfast with granola and Greek yogurt or with scotch pancakes and honey.  But this week faced with a massive box of them I decided that I would have to make jam. I've never done  much jam making before but with other types of fruit growing at the allotment I'm having to learn. And I really love the jam labels my granddaughter has made for me.