24 August 2007

Don’t put your strawberries on the stage, Mrs Worthington!

Or rather, do.

Some time ago in the back of a magazine I saw an advert for a ‘strawberry table-top‘. I thought it was an interesting idea, particularly as at the time I was having to fight the slugs for my own strawberries and those I did save were pretty much all splashed with mud. Growing them in bags, raised off the ground on staging seemed like a good idea. But not for that price - were they having a laugh? Besides, I felt sure I could rustle up something similar using my rickety old plastic greenhouse frames.

Well, the time has come to put my improvisational skills to the test. My strawberry plants have all had to come out of the ground or else be rotovated this weekend. I re-jigged where the shelves were, stood the two frames together and started transplanting. The chap who sells the internet version reckons you can get 10 strawberry plants per grow bag and that’s what I did, though I have to say that I think it must be far easier to do this with young plants as opposed to my hulking great 2-year-olds.

If you think the staging looks wonky, you’d be right - our ‘patio’ is far from level and the greenhouse frames are a little rickety. But they’re stable so I don’t think they’re going anywhere just yet.

Strawberry plants last for 3 years, so the plan for the future is to have three bags of different ages on the go that can therefore be rotated. I have six babies that were sent out on runners this year, with a couple more on the way, all to go into another grow bag when they’re a little bigger. I can always buy a couple more if need be to fill the gaps. Next year I hope that my existing lot will send out enough runners that I can populate a new bag without having to resort to shopping.

I have no idea whether or not this will prove to be a success, and they certainly all look like they’re feeling a bit sorry for themselves at the moment. But perhaps that’s only to be expected when they’ve been wrenched from their comfy beds. They’ve had a very good drink and I’m saying encouraging things to them. It seems worth giving it a go as I have nothing to lose.

Now all I have to do is sort out a labour-saving irrigation system.

Filed under: Blue Peter corner, Potager project — Clare @ 1:42 pm