This is a little article I wrote many moons ago for our local garden club. Probably what everyone already knows, but here goes anyway. Over the next couple of weeks we won’t need reminding that the strawberry season is well and truly here. It starts the same time as the Wimbledon fortnight, and rarely passes without a large amount of rain. But if we're lucky enough to have prolonged periods of dry, sunny weather this year, and you grow strawberries, you'll need to get out into your garden with your hose, or if we have another ban your watering can. It’s best to water in the morning, applying a high potash feed, such as tomato food, according to the manufacturer's instructions, as you go. By watering early in the day, before temperatures get too high, all the water will go to the plants rather than being lost to evaporation under the sun. It's best that you don't wet any of the flowers or fruits as they can quickly be affected by grey mould (botrytis) which will spread to other fruit if not spotted in time. If your strawberries are in the ground you should put straw down before the fruit comes into contact with the soil. This will keep them clean and also lessens the risk of rotting and be attacked slugs. Barley or wheat straw will do. Place handfuls around and under plants. Strawberry mats are an alternative if you can't find straw or think it's too messy. I often put articles about encouraging wildlife into the garden but you don’t want to share your strawberries with them. You can use nets to keep off the birds, and either use slug traps, go out on an evening slug hunt or scatter pellets thinly between rows to divert these pests. Pick fruit when ripe, making sure you remove all the old ones because they'll quickly rot. As soon as your plants have finished fruiting most will start to produce lots of runners. As the runners grow, peg them down into the soil or pots of compost and you'll have plenty of new plants to increase your stock.
