We have been keeping a close eye on the strawbs’ progress. On 21 april we hopeful signs: On 12 may the blossoms had undergone a change: Well, it was not long until the “berries” began blushing. This was the sign to weed, water and add “straw”. Our straw was the winter bed’s mulch layer. it works well and we do not have to buy bales of seedy straw/hay. Once packed-in we broke-out the netting. These are the ‘Verdi’: We dai the same procedure to the other “old” bed: These ‘Daroyal’ plants are two years old now and are producing the first actual red fruits. My Bride got her first strawb before her birthday. Sadly it was a bit sour, I think because of the cool and dry weather that we have had for several weeks now. Actually, the yo-yoing of the temps every day does not help. Here is a pic showing their erect habitus: Well, here was her first one, but you can see that there are more on the way. I do love a good strawberry.
Sjoerd exquisite display of horticultural techniques down to the last strawb…adore your techniques , determination your ability thru you kind heart and pictures to teach me a lot over the years. A big Thanx for all your support and suggestive displays and encouragement and great pics examples of perfection.
Looks very neat and tidy Sjoerd I've had to put up wind break to stop the cold winds on our fruit tunnel, must be bad for you too with the North wind coming off the sea We're still cropping from the polytunnel but the main crop are still only flowering.
Annie— thanks. So far, so good. They have cost us a lot of time caring for them during the blooming and flowering period. Hopefully I can keep them just moist enough. Cheers Pac— you always say such complimentary things. I appreciate it a lot. Zigs— yes, that cold wind is not welcome at this time of year. Wind is a thing on a volkstuin; or allotment, over here. The gardens are mostly flat…like the ones I have visited in Britain, so the wind whips steadily across the plots. Wind is something that we must live with all year long, every year. The wind blows from the west in the summer and from the east in the winter, primarily. There are some folks that try to protect their plants with fleece or perforated plastic, but the wind soon distorts their tidy efforts. I am waffling now. That is a lovely bakje of strawbs. Chapeau. What kind are they?
Good word volkstuin What part of Britain did you visit Sjoerd? We're on top of the hills here. Ta I propagated from a few plants that I found in the garden, we now have dozens of them. No idea what variety they are
Zigs— ach, that’s oké. you can come up with some interesting hybrids that way sometimes, as well as clones. I cannot recall all the places that we have visited over there. I believe that we have been in every county and country except Northern Ireland. We have also not visited the more famous small islands, except the one in Wales. We have been several times I think that Stonehenge and Avebury stand out the most, but I am interested in old things. I drove my Bride crazy stopping at all the tiny, old chapels. Gôh, they were filled with so much Hx. I would look at every stone. She was beginning to mumble something like “abc” under her breath. Well, to be fair, many of them were closed…but then outside there were things to see as well. Our trips were many, many years ago now…but the memories are none-the-less fond.
Travelling is such a good thing for a person. My Bride and I alternated travelling and working. It was enriching, if not a bit nerve-wracking sometimes. We travelled on our own, so part of the adventure was in the planning and adapting to the challenges.
The Strawberries all seem very nice Aah, I lived in North Wales, in the mountains. A neighbour up there visited the Netherlands and spent an hour showing me pictures and telling me how flat it was, she'd never seen anywhere flat before I Spent most of my life working on old churches and castles, I love the small old ones too
I've seen flat. Central Illinois. So flat for miles and miles that you can actually see the curvature of the Earth. It made me nervous. I like trees and rolling hills surrounding me.
