Get Growing Strawberries This Summer!
It’s time to get growing your own delicious strawberries and save on your supermarket shop this summer! There is truly nothing better than adding strawberries straight from the garden to your plate or even in drinks at home and Bernaville Nurseries have a tempting selection of both homegrown and hybrid strawberries available at the moment. Take a look at our favourite varieties to make your summer that extra bit sweeter.
Classic varieties:
Cambridge
• Easy to grow
• A classic strawberry
• Produces fruit all summer long
Symphony
• Grows vigorously
• Lovely old fashioned strawberry flavour
• Great for extending your growing season
Elsanta
• Firm orange red berries
• Excellent flavour
• Fruit has a long shelf life once picked
Ruby Anne
• Gorgeous Ruby-Red flowers
• Sweet, conical strawberries
• Produces fruit all summer long
Hybrid Varieties:
Pineberry
• White strawberry with pineapple taste
• Looks beautiful
• Cross-breeding with a red strawberry is a MUST (this process is done by bees, so make sure there is a red strawberry planted nearby)
Bubbleberry
• Heirloom variety – referenced in Jane Austens’ novel ‘Emma’
• Produces little pink strawberries with sweet bubblegum flavour
• Very sweet
• Texture is similar to that of a marshmallow ( soft & squishy)
Framberry
• Has the taste of a raspberry
• Doesn’t have the typical strawberry shape
• Bernaville Staff favourite
• Great for container growing due to its compact growing habit
Yellow Wonder
• Yellow alpine strawberry
• Yellow skin & flesh
• Amazing sweetness
• Everbearer variety
How to grow your own Strawberries
Your plants will thrive in a fully sunny position and with free draining soil, they don’t like to get waterlogged! If you prefer to grow strawberries in a hanging basket or pot, we recommend a maximum of three plants in one container to give them enough room. Strawberry fruit season usually runs from mid-May to August dependent on weather conditions and the variety grown.
Strawberries are a perennial plant, however they are short lived – three years or so and they will need replacing as they won’t bear fruit anymore. The best way to maintain strawberry plants for free is by raising the runners. Once your strawberries have established they will start putting out runners which can be made into new plants to continue the crop for years to come. Just place a pot of compost near the the plant, peg the runner into the compost, water well and leave until rooted. Once the growing season is over, don’t forget to cover them with a mulch, straw or fleece for overwintering because if these plants get frost bite they wont produce fruit anymore!