The BERRY best
Want to enjoy the fantastic flavour of real strawberries? Then just pop some in your garden now
SUPERMARKET strawberries flatter to deceive. The glistening, rich-red berries look irresistible but take one bite and most are revealed to be flavourless baubles that are unlikely to be polished off with gusto.
The worst culprits are those pneumatic monsters shipped in from overseas that are harvested when under-ripe and are either too tough to eat or have the consistency of cotton wool. British strawberries are much better, yet even they are outclassed by fruit grown in your own garden.
Nothing compares to strawberries that have been allow to mature in the sun, been picked at their peak and eaten a few minutes later. The fruit is highly aromatic, juicy and packs an intense flavour.
One way to ensure you never have to taste mediocre strawberries again is to plant some now. If you have plenty of space, you could start a dedicated strawberry bed in a sunny, sheltered spot. Those with tiny gardens can grow them in pots, hanging baskets or grow bags.
Pot-grown plants are available, but the most economical way of growing this soft fruit is to buy special frozen strawberry plants. These are baby strawberry plants that are removed from adult plants and placed in a cold store to keep them dormant. After planting, most will produce berries within 60 to 90 days.
Strawberries are our favourite summer fruit, but modern cultivated berries bear little resemblance to their wild ancestors. Generally native to the northern hemisphere, these plants tend to be small, slowgrowing and produce a sparse number of tiny fruit.
Among them is Fragaria vesca or the wild strawberry, which can be found growing in woods, grass or scrubland across Britain. This species can also be found across much of Europe and was highly prized among the Romans. Apart from feasting on the berries, they used its juice to cure everything from fevers to bad breath.
French botanists developed the modern garden strawberry in the mid 18th Century. Fragaria virginiana, a North American species noted for flavour, was crossed with Fragaria chilioensis, a native of Chile whose berries were significantly larger than most. The result, F. x ananassa, is the parent of the majority of strawberry varieties available today.
THERE are close to 100 different types available to buy in Britain – these are split into two groups based on when the berries appear. Summer-fruiting strawberries tend to have a single, heavy flush of fruit sometime between late May and the end of August, depending on what you grow. Everbearer, all-season or perpetual strawberries produce their first berries in June and then continue to lightly fruit on and off into the autumn.
‘Elsanta’ is the best-known summer strawberry and the most widely grown commercial strawberry in this country – grow it yourself and you’ll taste a big difference to those sold in shops. ‘Christine’ is ready to harvest in early June, while ‘Honeoye’ boasts large, bright red fruit in June and early July.
‘Cambridge Favourite’ bears a large crop of berries from mid-June to mid-July and is often grown on pick-your-own farms. Bred in Scotland, ‘Symphony’ has large, bright red berries full of flavour – it copes well in damp conditions making it perfect for northern or western gardens. ‘Marshmello’ is a fairly recent introduction that was described by chef Raymond Blanc as ‘the sweetest strawberry I’ve ever tasted’.
Among the best everbearers are ‘Aromel’, which is grown for its heavy crops of dark red, juicy fruit, and ‘Malling Opal’, whose large berries are sweet with a juicy texture. Best of the lot is ‘Mara des Bois’ – this French variety produces large berries from July to October that have a taste and aroma that’s similar to wild strawberries.
If you’re looking for something a bit different, try ‘Anablanca’ for its aromatic, white berries or ‘Pink Panda’ – unlike most other strawberries, which have white flowers, it’s blessed with showy pink blooms and small red fruit. Dubbed the climbing strawberry, ‘Mount Everest’ produces runners up to 40in long and can be trained against trellis or other supports.
Plant strawberries in a sunny position in well drained, fertile soil. Dig in plenty of garden compost, leaf mould or well-rotted manure before planting, then space plants 18in apart with 3ft between rows. Scatter a general fertiliser around plants to give them a kick start.
Water plants regularly, especially during dry periods. When flowers appear, spread barley straw, black polythene or special strawberry mats around plants to help keep the developing fruit clean and prevent weeds from growing.
Another option is to grow them in containers. Place a single plant in the centre of an 8in pot filled with multipurpose compost, four in a 14in hanging basket or six in a grow bag.
After harvesting, cut back tatty foliage to leave a cluster of undamaged foliage at the centre of the plant, then remove and pot up any runners to make new plants for next year. In late winter, snip off leaves that have been damaged by the weather. With care, summer-fruiting strawberry plants should provide you with heavy crops for around four years.