If you've read my other blogs, you'll know that I am on a mission to become more self sufficient and grow my own produce to avoid all the nasties they put in our foods, whilst also hoping to improve my gut health along the way.
So there begun the mission and as you'll start to notice, the constant gardening learns being made on a daily basis throughout this journey. Part of this new mission is to also help pass some of those learns and tips on to you so that you may go on to growing your own produce too😊 It's not only a rewarding hobby and potentially healthier way of living but also helps the environment which if you hadn't noticed by now, we are an AVID supporter of.
Therefore this 'Growing Fruits - Part 1' post will focus on Strawberries and who doesn't love a big fat juicy strawberry! 😂 We'll start off with the easy way (buying a plant) and lead on to how to grow from seed.
Easy option
Now I had no idea how to grow strawberries, not even a tincy little bit of random knowledge I'd picked up in 36 years of living. All I knew was that I LOVE them so if you can resonate with this then the easiest thing you can do to start is to simply buy an already established seedling from your local shop. Pictured above are actually two seedlings bought around April time which I planted within an oblong trough style planter, one from B&Q and one from my local Blue Diamond Garden Centre. They can literally be as cheap as £1, bargain!
To be honest, it didn't take that long before you could see the strawberries beginning to form.
It was in May when the first edible strawberry was produced and mannnnn was it good! Of course I didn't get an abundance of strawberries from just two plants, you do need to have realistic expectations. Between the two plants, they produced around about a dozen strawberries and as they're growth is staggered, this was over a period of a few weeks.
You'll know when they're ready to harvest as they'll have both a lovely vivid red colouring and be ever so slightly squidgy. If they're still a bit hard, leave them for another day, maybe two but be warned, there is a fine line with this because the wildlife will nab them if you don't!
I learnt the hard way... Oh how I miss you near to be mine oh so juicy looking strawberry....sad times.
2. Starting From Scratch - Planting From Seed
There are 2 options here. Either by buying a punnet of strawberries or buying a packet of strawberry seeds. For the sake of passing on knowledge, we will be opting for the harder grafting version and buying a punnet of strawberries.
The reason this is harder grafting is simply because you need to remove the seeds from the strawberries yourself. For those of you who don't know (don't judge those of you who do), the seeds are literally the little lighter coloured specks on the strawberry skin and there's a clever nifty little way of removing them.
Firstly using a knife, carefully slice the skin as thinly as you possibly can in order to peel the seeds away from the strawberry. Yes you can eat the rest of the strawberry at this point.
Place the slices onto something like kitchen roll to soak up the moisture. Leave this for a couple of days until they appear to have completely dried out.
Using a knife or spoon, simply scrape the seeds away from the skin and let rest on a further dry piece of kitchen roll to remove any remnants.
You then have seeds you can plant!
Seeds can take several weeks to sprout. According to the general online advice, anything from 2>6 weeks. I find mine take more like 6>8 weeks but this could be due to climate/weather in the UK vs other climates so the general rule, be patient. If you don't get anything after 2 months, they're probably unlikely to sprout.
Strawberry seeds also need moist conditions therefore, ensure your soil does not dry out by spraying it consistently but be careful not to over water, this will just encourage mould; definitely another thing I've learnt along the way! Once they've sprouted and you've got a few inches of seedling height, transport them into larger containers and move outside. There are lots of methods that people use to adapt their plants to moving them outside but quite honestly, as long as the main season of cold has gone, I just chuck them out and tend to their needs from there. If it was a business or something I solely relied on, I'd think about adopting other methods however, at this moment in time, I'm working on a more "wing it and see" basis. What's your method?
3. Other Useful Things To Know!
Once you start seeing red leaves, lop them off. These will be drawing the important nutrients away from the main plant which you don't want.
After you've gotten as many strawberries out of your plants as it will provide, don't dispair, it doesn't end here. Watch what happens next!
I started noticing random shoots growing and growing, seemingly trying to escape somewhere, to the point it was wrapping around the fence panel. What I didn't realise until recently, was that this is the plant wanting to produce babies! Awwww!
Closely inspect these long shoots and keep your eyes peeled for what looks like just a knobbly bud. THIS is what you want to now look after. Gently feed this bud into some soil (you'll need to pin it down) and leave for a couple of weeks for it to establish it's own roots. It should then be safe to snip away from the main parent plant and be ready to go it alone!
So where I started with 2 plants, I now have 7 so far with a couple more I think on the way.
I don't know if there's enough growing time to get strawberries out of these this year but lets see shall we! This is the first time I have had this so watch this space and we'll learn together as nature takes it's course :-)
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Kaykins Creation x
Growing Fruits - Part 1: Strawberries
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