In My Garden: Strawberries
This winter, I decided that I wanted to try to grow strawberries. I’ve grown them in the past, but they weren’t great, and I thought I would give it a try again. Every time I grow something there’s always a learning curve, and even after you think that you finally figured everything out, nature sometimes changes how that fruit or vegetable needs to be grown.
One of my suppliers offered a strawberry that was developed in California called San Andreas, which I purchased. The package came a few weeks later with about twenty or so root masses. When I received them I wasn’t sure that it would be a good idea. They seemed dried out and not very vital looking but I went ahead and planted them. I dug in a lot of homemade compost in a very sunny location and crossed my fingers.
A few weeks later, I saw them slowly start to grow. The keyword is slowly. But as time went on, they started growing faster and looked much healthier. I was told not to expect many strawberries the first year. To my surprise, the strawberry plants are growing wonderfully and producing handfuls of strawberries already this year. Every couple of days we pick about 8 to 10 berries for our breakfast. They are so big that 4 berries is enough for a bowl of cereal.
It is really worth the time to grow fresh homegrown strawberries. The flavor is sweet and intensely flavorful, nothing like the berries you buy at the grocery store. And everything I grow is organic, which I feel makes them taste even better.
