Propagating Strawberries

First of all, an apology. Sorry I’ve not been keeping up my diary. A few evenings now I’ve come in determined to write up what I’ve been up to but by the time I’ve eaten and watched a little telly, I’m almost snoring.

Another Growing Bed Prepared

I dug out another bed, just 10 feet by 4 feet. Now that doesn’t sound much but it’s actually quite a lot of work here. Cutting through the turf mat and stacking doesn’t take too long but digging over and getting the larger stones out is where the time comes in.

Once I’d done that, I ran over it with my Mantis. This did two jobs, first of all it broke the soil clods up into a fine tilth and secondly it discovered the stones I’d missed. Yet another barrow load!

The bed is the ideal size for a raised bed and when I get around to it, will become one. For now it’s just a bed inset into the turf. Having got the soil somewhat prepared, I added 3 60 litre bags of Westland soil conditioner. My soil lacks organic matter to say the least. For the next bed, I’ll add my own compost which is finally rotting down.

Mixed all the conditioner in with a quick pass of the Mantis and then levelled up with the rake before planting out my incredibly late broad beans.

I really don’t know if I’ll get a crop from them but it has to be worth a try. One thing I’ve learned from growing is that saying ‘that will never work’ is as risky as saying ‘that’s bound to work’. You never know for sure.

Propagating Strawberries

Val had bought six strawberry plants earlier in the year which she planted in large pots. They’ve not graced us with any fruit but they’re putting out plantlets like there’s no tomorrow.

So we got a lot of small pots and planted them. All you need to do is keep the plantlet (sure there’s some technical word for them, but it escapes me at the moment) in contact with the soil until it’s rooted. Then cut the umbilical stem and you’ve a new plant. To hold them in place I cut up some wire coat hangers and bent them into pegs.

This year’s six plants will provide an additional 22 for next year! Some stems will actually give two new plants, fantastic.

Potatoes

I had an email from Joe asking:

“My potato foliage is tall and healthy with pinky white flowers but on some stems are small bunches of green berries, what are these and do I have anything to worry about?”

The green berries are actually the fruits. Remember potatoes are in the same family as tomatoes. However, don’t try eating them – probably poisonous! They do no harm although some authorities recommend removing them so the plant doesn’t waste energy that could go into the crop.

Flowers are usually a sign the crop is ready. If you keep a diary of your growing you can make a note in it when you expect the crop to be ready based on the type. There’s a bit on the site about growing potatoes here: Growing Potatoes

My own potatoes are just popping out. Yet another incredibly late planted crop. If you follow this diary, please keep in mind we moved house last year and had an awful lot to do so everything is late and to pot here!

Some good news – the carrots are showing well in the raised barrels and I’ll be thinning them soon. Today I would like to be digging out another bed in the sunshine but the render on the side of the house needs painting. And it’s going to rain tomorrow.

Click photos for a larger version – click again for full sized

Posted in Allotment Garden Diary
2 comments on “Propagating Strawberries
  1. Jeremy Edwards says:

    My maincrop potatoes have been flowering for some time and some have fruited. I’m not too sure about the tuber size as we have had so much dry weather and watering has done little good. My Pentland Javelins and Charlottes were suitably sized. I think that I will leave them for a while and keep an eye open for blight.

  2. Su says:

    Planted 2lots of potatoes this year and tried 2ways of growing them. Duke of Yorks under straw and Kestral in small black bags I bought from JBA potatoes when I got my seed potatoes. The straw method worked well but will stick with the bags in future. Very easy to use and a good crop. It was pouring down yesterday and I needed potatoes for dinner so just grabbed a bag, took it into my polytunnel and harvested the crop in the dry. No digging required and the soil gets used again! And the bags can be reused next year.

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