It maybe the last few days of autumn with winter fast approaching, but it is not a slack time in the garden, especially with new seasons plants coming available one after the other.
I see that the first strawberry plants have started to arrive in garden centres.
The name Strawberry is an interesting one which is thought to have been derived in medieval England where the berries were tied to straw and sold in markets or by street vendors.
There is also the possibility that growers used straw to protect the berries from soil contamination (much as we do today) thus both instances apply to be ‘straw’ berries.
The original wild strawberries are found through out the world, everywhere except for Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
It is the only berry that has its seeds on the outside rather than the inside and each strawberry can have about 200 seeds.
Because Strawberries do not have seeds inside them they are not considered technically as a fruit instead they are actually, botanically, a vegetable.
Here is another interesting fact, strawberries are related to roses!
This being so, it would be advisable to keep your roses and strawberries apart to prevent diseases spreading from one to other.
If you would like to grow some strawberries now is the time to do so as they need to get settled in as soon as possible so they will bear fruit for you in the summer.
If they do not establish well enough soon, you will have no fruit or only a few. I find even with early planting and doing all the right things the crop is never as big as it will be on the second year.
If you are lucky enough to buy loose or bundles of strawberry plants they may have all their leaves on them or have had them removed. The old leaves do need to be cut off low to the crown, leaving only the very young leaves or a leaf near the crown intact.
This is done to take the stress off the root system, allowing for root development. If you don’t remove the older leaves these will only die off anyway and this can cause botrytis to affect the healthy crown.
If you cant plant straight away you can always heel them into a space in a bit of garden or alternatively ensure that the roots are kept moist.
I was told a story many years ago from a farmer, who’s father, on settling on a large block of land in the 1800s, cut down a large Rimu tree that was on the home paddock.
After a number of years the trunk of the tree had began decomposing and the farmer stuck strawberry plants into the decaying wood. His son, (who related the story to me) said as a child growing up, and since then, had never again tasted such big sweet strawberries.
Strawberries are a woodland plant and obviously the decaying wood gave the plants a natural food.
I have often thought about this and so I will go looking for sawdust, especially Rimu sawdust, to add to my strawberry beds for growing them along with a bark based compost.
Any sawdust will likely be good as long as its from untreated timber, preferably from hard rather than soft woods such as pine.
I also like to place some BioPhos in the planting hole as this has worked well for me in the past.
Once planted you could place a layer of sawdust over the soil, around the plants, to keep the fruit off the soil or compost.
After planting I then drench the planted area with Mycorrcin which stimulates the beneficial organisms and fungi in the mix.
If growing in a window box or container add a little top soil to the mix. During the growing season I will spray the strawberry plants once a month with Mycorrcin and Perkfection.
This has kept the plants disease free for me and my plants have produced well now for 4 seasons with the assistance of these two natural type sprays.
Last season the yield was not so good so I will be lifting all plants and re-doing the beds with fresh material and re-planting my younger plants.
The oldest plants will be given another chance to preform by making a bed for them in a sunny spot in my vegetable raised garden.
It has been proven commercially that strawberries that are treated with Wallys Mycorrcin every 2 to 4 weeks will produce between 200 to 400% more, bigger and sweeter berries in a season.
Aphids may attack the plants in the spring with mites following in the summer, if either of these pests appear a simple spray of Wallys Super Neem Tree Oil will control them without any withholding period.
Birds can be a pest when the fruit is ripening and last season I used Bird Repeller Ribbon stretched between two stakes just above the plants and fruit and this stopped all bird damage.
In a garden you can easily make a frame around the strawberries with planks of timber about 6 to 8 inches tall. A lid can be attached to the frame with hinges and small diameter wire netting fixed to the lid.
This will stop all bird activity and you can lift the lid to harvest the berries. Another aspect of this would be to place a few loose sheets of glass over the lid making it into a cloche, but ensure that there is adequate ventilation to prevent diseases.
This can bring the plants on quickly in the spring and a better crop early.
What type of strawberries to buy? You may have a choice in types or you maybe limited to one or two types of plants available.
I prefer the day neutral ones that are not dependent on a time to fruit (hours of light) and will fruit anytime with normally two good flushes a season, such as Aptos. I have berries ripening on my old plants right now with a few ripe berries to pick every few days.
If you are lifting existing plants to replant then spray the foliage both over and under the leaves with Vaporgard. This reduces moisture lose and removes the need to cut back the foliage after disturbing the roots.
Strawberry Trees or containers that are promoted as Strawberry trees; are from my experience a waste of time.
The concept is good but it would appear that the root restriction, difficulty of even watering along with the problem of the southern side of the strawberry tree not having sunlight makes for poor results.
Morning or afternoon sunny place is best suited for them and you can besides spraying the plants often with Mycorrcin you can also use Wallys Secret Strawberry Food for much bigger, juicier berries.
If you have runners from existing plants then peg them to some bare soil so they will root up and later on you can cut the cord that attaches them to the mother plant and then lift the new plants which can be used to replace old plants or start a new strawberry bed.
Image credit: Anastasia Zhenina
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