An amazing year for strawberries

[greenishfing]

I got so many yesterday I made jam, unheard of so early in the season.

[jayjaybee]

I fail miserably with strawbs, I had one strawberry on the one pot that has survived and the bally blackbirds had it so in answer to your query, my strawberries are awful. On the other hand the raspberry patch has never been so full of fruit.

[Dorothy rouse]

Oh dear, VC, I'll send you a couple

[veggiechicken]

Thank you Dorothy I have one on the turn - so there's hope

[Dorothy rouse]

Savour it!

[veggiechicken]

Oh I will!! If the birds/slugs/woodlice don't beat me to it

[redser]

I worked my butt off last summer taking runners. I now have 12 pounds in the freezer and a few in our tummies. The baby blackbirds have been feeding well too. I'll be almost glad when they stop cropping. Santos gonna have a lot of jam to deliver next chr}#%~*<.

[redser]

Yes, santos, the Irish-Hispanic jam god who brings jam to the good girls and boys. Stupid iPad predictive text.

[Peppermint]

Built our new fruit cage in the spring (well the OH did .. I just did the cable ties ). I moved the strawberry plants (Hapil and two different 'Orkney' strawberries - basically runners from plants that survive up here) and much to my surprise they are mostly all flowering. The experience of our first two years of gardening here is that we won't get ours until the end of July / beginning of August. I have high hopes

Must look into 'perennial' strawberries. Do these start cropping earlier than the normal strawberries?

[MrsCordial]

Our veg plot (in our garden) came complete with a large strawberry patch. We've tidied it up a bit and it had lots of chicken manure in the spring, and this year's crop has been brilliant. Bowls and bowlsful. I thought they were going over but a quick look this evening effortlessly yielded enough for five people for pud!

[greenishfing]

Built our new fruit cage in the spring (well the OH did .. I just did the cable ties ). I moved the strawberry plants (Hapil and two different 'Orkney' strawberries - basically runners from plants that survive up here) and much to my surprise they are mostly all flowering. The experience of our first two years of gardening here is that we won't get ours until the end of July / beginning of August. I have high hopes

Must look into 'perennial' strawberries. Do these start cropping earlier than the normal strawberries?

I don't think my perpetuals give me strawberries particularly early. Here in Yorkshire they usually give me the first strawberries in June (just before Wimbledon). I have been picking constantly since then and have picked the last of the first batch today, but there are now loads of flowers coming again and they will more or less continue until the first frost tailing off towards the end. Usually they are at their most prolific in August when I make loads of jam.