Tips and Information on Growing Strawberries
There is no fruit like the strawberry for proving the value of organic methods of growing. It is a woodland plant or, should I say, a plant which loves to dwell on the edges of woodlands where it gets the sun and yet is constantly being ‘fed’ by the falling leaves of trees.
They will do far better with the straw left in position as a mulch, thus protecting them from the late summer heat. The trouble with straw today-with modern systems of farming- is that it may be weedy and thus the laying of it down causes trouble. In gardens, therefore, many people prefer to use sedge peat, this being put all over the ground to the depth of an inch. It keeps the ripening berries clean, it provides an ideal mulch and it has not got to be disturbed at all. Weeds are kept down and if by chance one or two should appear they can easily be pulled by hand. The worms will undoubtedly pull some of the peat into the soil, so as to add humus to the ground and so each season a top dressing of sedge peat, say, to the depth of a 4 inch may have to be given.
The strawberry is, of course, a surface rooter and therefore you really ought not to cultivate once the plants are in position. The forking and hoeing method of growing strawberries is ideal. Get the land clean before the strawberries are planted, in the summer, and after that keep the weeds down by mulching, coupled with a certain amount of hand-weeding, if necessary.
Once the strawberry plants are in position they will be fed twice a year: first of all early in April and, secondly, immediately after fruiting.’ In the spring a fish manure will be given at 3 oz. to the sq. yard, and in the late summer steamed bone flour will be applied, or hoof and horn meal, at 3 oz. to the sq. yard. On light sandy soils some extra potash may be necessary, and then wood ashes can be used in the summer with the bone meal at 4 oz. to the sq. yard.
There was a vogue, some years back, of burning the straw in situ after it had been put down in the summer to keep the berries clean. It was said that the burning did no harm, providing the flame ran down the rows quickly. In fact, it was claimed that the heat would burn the weeds and kill off numerous pests, let alone applying potash automatically to the ground.
This burning of the straw is, however, a tremendous waste of organic matter and, furthermore, if it is done immediately after picking, and there should be a sunny hot August and early September, then of course the roots may suffer. They will do far better with the straw left in position as a mulch, thus protecting them from the late summer heat.
