Plant feed is graded according to its N.P.K. balance. The letters being the chemical symbols for Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium (I know Potassium doesn't begin with a K. Blame the scientists). Anyway the balance of the 3 chemicals varies according to what it's used for and Potassium, known as Potash because it was originally made from the ash of burnt plants blended with water in a pot, helps promote fruit growth in a lot of plants.
If you look on the back of a bottle of plant feed there will be numbers shown in the N:P:K format such as 5:10:10. This would be good for fruiting plants as the balance is higher on the P and K with less Nitrogen. Nitrogen helps leaf growth but takes energy away from the fruit.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
I'm in my 2nd year of growing strawberries now and have learnt some things the hard way, and gotten lucky in others.
First off, decide what you want in terms of fruit, do you have a preference on size and how often they fruit? Most of our native species will be summer fruiting and will fruit generally in one period. Others (like the ones I have will fruit twice if you have a good summer (looking good so far). And then you have alpine that as others have said are smaller fruits but fruit regularly through the year once spring hits. Taking care of them is the same, so this is just preference.
Ultimately, where and how you plant them is only really down to where you'd prefer, as well as where they'd get the most sun, as they'll happily grow anywhere (my brother has thriftily used recycled car tyres attached to his wall outside and is growing alpine in there very happily).
Make sure you have good fertile soil (I have compost with a bit of well rotted/ composted manure mixed in) and plant them in, but make sure the base of the plant is above ground, as it needs to 'breathe'. I always try to make sure they're raised slightly compared to the rest of the soil level so that water runs away, to deter chance of rot and habitat for slugs.
Aside from that, keep well watered (depending on climate), keep an eye out for anything that doesn't look right (trust your instincts, lush green is always good), and let them do their thing! Feed them with a high potash feed (like for tomatoes or other fruit, you can buy specific strawberry feed but anything high in potash will do) every two weeks before fruits set, and once they've flowered, keep an eye on the middles of the flowers where the pollen is. As soon as you see them start to grow, go to feeding them every week, as your fruits are on their way!!
Now, it's time to mulch - put some straw out (hence strawberries) under the plant (again leave the base of the plant able to breathe) so that the fruits don't touch the wet soil when they swell and droop from being heavy so that they don't get wet and rot, and that's essentially it.
Aside from that, make sure you:
1. Water the soil around the plant and try not ot water the leaves as this can encourage rot/ other problems you don't want.
2. Net them before the fruits go red so the birds don't pinch them!!! Once you get fruits set and starting to swell, get your netting up. Build a frame with whatever you want, make sure there's enough space around the plant for it to continue to grow, and put fine (5mm) netting up. Fix it down on three sides and pin/tie down the last side so that you can still get in & out to collect your fruits & water!
3. Decide what you want to do with runners. These are basically sideways 'stems' that will grow out and then start to grow up and sprout leaves, with roots starting to come from the bottom of that curve - these are how the plant spreads. On the plus side, if you let them do this then your one plant could quickly become multiple in one season. However, runners use A LOT of energy which would otherwise be used to grow berries, so depends what you want. Typically, for first year plants you should always pinch off runners so the plant uses all its energy to establish itself and grow fruits, year two you can then let it run if you wish. I'm planning to take one runner from each plant this year and pinch the rest off, as I want berries this year.
Whatever you do, make sure you net them. Trust me, going to bed one night expecting to pick your first strawberry before work the next morning, only to discover the early birds decimated it....is soul destroying.
Touch wood I've had no issues yet (aside from birds), but I'm growing them in a long basket fixed to the fence, so much harder for slugs to get to.
Planting in the ground will let them spread better and there will be more nutrients available than in a basket or bag as they have all that ground to tap into and spread out on to search for what they need....but easier for slugs & woodlice etc to get at them...so choose wisely.
I think it's easy to over analyze everything too Strawberries, by and large, are straightforward to grow, and don't require any more effort than most plants if given decent growing conditions.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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First off, decide what you want in terms of fruit, do you have a preference on size and how often they fruit? Most of our native species will be summer fruiting and will fruit generally in one period. Others (like the ones I have will fruit twice if you have a good summer (looking good so far). And then you have alpine that as others have said are smaller fruits but fruit regularly through the year once spring hits. Taking care of them is the same, so this is just preference.
Ultimately, where and how you plant them is only really down to where you'd prefer, as well as where they'd get the most sun, as they'll happily grow anywhere (my brother has thriftily used recycled car tyres attached to his wall outside and is growing alpine in there very happily).
Make sure you have good fertile soil (I have compost with a bit of well rotted/ composted manure mixed in) and plant them in, but make sure the base of the plant is above ground, as it needs to 'breathe'. I always try to make sure they're raised slightly compared to the rest of the soil level so that water runs away, to deter chance of rot and habitat for slugs.
Aside from that, keep well watered (depending on climate), keep an eye out for anything that doesn't look right (trust your instincts, lush green is always good), and let them do their thing! Feed them with a high potash feed (like for tomatoes or other fruit, you can buy specific strawberry feed but anything high in potash will do) every two weeks before fruits set, and once they've flowered, keep an eye on the middles of the flowers where the pollen is. As soon as you see them start to grow, go to feeding them every week, as your fruits are on their way!!
Now, it's time to mulch - put some straw out (hence strawberries) under the plant (again leave the base of the plant able to breathe) so that the fruits don't touch the wet soil when they swell and droop from being heavy so that they don't get wet and rot, and that's essentially it.
Aside from that, make sure you:
1. Water the soil around the plant and try not ot water the leaves as this can encourage rot/ other problems you don't want.
2. Net them before the fruits go red so the birds don't pinch them!!! Once you get fruits set and starting to swell, get your netting up. Build a frame with whatever you want, make sure there's enough space around the plant for it to continue to grow, and put fine (5mm) netting up. Fix it down on three sides and pin/tie down the last side so that you can still get in & out to collect your fruits & water!
3. Decide what you want to do with runners. These are basically sideways 'stems' that will grow out and then start to grow up and sprout leaves, with roots starting to come from the bottom of that curve - these are how the plant spreads. On the plus side, if you let them do this then your one plant could quickly become multiple in one season. However, runners use A LOT of energy which would otherwise be used to grow berries, so depends what you want. Typically, for first year plants you should always pinch off runners so the plant uses all its energy to establish itself and grow fruits, year two you can then let it run if you wish. I'm planning to take one runner from each plant this year and pinch the rest off, as I want berries this year.
Whatever you do, make sure you net them. Trust me, going to bed one night expecting to pick your first strawberry before work the next morning, only to discover the early birds decimated it....is soul destroying.
Touch wood I've had no issues yet (aside from birds), but I'm growing them in a long basket fixed to the fence, so much harder for slugs to get to.
Planting in the ground will let them spread better and there will be more nutrients available than in a basket or bag as they have all that ground to tap into and spread out on to search for what they need....but easier for slugs & woodlice etc to get at them...so choose wisely.
Strawberries, by and large, are straightforward to grow, and don't require any more effort than most plants if given decent growing conditions.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
First strawberry of the year! I’m going to resist eating it till tomorrow. Hopefully nothing will get to it first.