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Growing Strawberries

Jul 18th, 2010 by admin

Growing strawberries at home is such a great thing to do, but so few people actually do it. It’s funny, we all love strawberries, but we are afraid to grow them on our own, because we believe that is must be very difficult or expansive to grow them at home. In fact, its none of that. Growing strawberries offers many advantages in comparisson to purchasing strawberries in a shop. It is healthier, cheaper, better for the enironment and it is actually a great deal of fun.

Firstly, growing strawberries is fairly easy, as strawberry plants are very adaptable. They only need standard soil, adequate amounth of water und lots of sun light. Strawberries can grow in gardens,  pots or in other types of containers. Even if you have only a small window sill that gets a lot of sun light you can grow strawberries. When you are growing your own strawberries harvesting them is so easy, you just go to the garden and pick them up. Compare them with getting to car and driving to a nearest shopping mall, finding them there and waiting in a check out line.

Secondly, growing strawberries at home minimizes waste and use of pesticides and therefore it is very ecological. You don’t have to burn petrol on the way to a closest shop. Furthermore, there are no transport cost in moving strawberries from a farm to your local shop. Producers of commercial strawberries use all possible pesticides and fertilisers to produce more in a shorter period of time and maximize profits. Many of the chemicals which they use can have devastating effect on the environment. They can also be very harmful to your own health. When you are growing strawberries in your own garden it is not necessary to use any of these chemicals.

With strawberries freshness is extremely important. Strawberries tend to go bad just couple of days after the havest and therefore it is very important to eat them as quickly as possible. Commercial strawberries have to be transported from farms to shops where they are being stored and wait for a customer to pick them up. All this process takes a long time. When growing your own strawberries you can be sure of absolute freshness of strawberries you are eating.

Furthermore, home-grown strawberries tend to have much higher nutritional value, as they are allowed to grow longer. Commercial strawberries are grown very quickly to increase the amounth that can be produced for a fixed period. That means that they might lack some of the crucial vitamins and minerals. On the contrary, when growing strawberries at home, you can be sure that they have enough time to grow and accummulate all the vital nutrition.

To sum up, growing strawberries at home seems to be an excellent way to produce your own great looking, tasty and healthy strawberries that include all the important vitamins, but do not contain harmful chemicals. Therefore I strongly recommend you to try growing strawberries.

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How to Grow Strawberries from Seed

Sep 12th, 2011 by admin

In this post I will show you how to grow strawberries from seed. Growing strawberries is very relaxing and enjoyable activity. Imagine eating fresh, juicy, delicious strawberries in the comforts of your garden. Many people think that they could never grow strawberries, but actually it is quite easy. Here are a few crucial tips for growing strawberries from seed at home, in your garden or just in a pot.

First of all, strawberry plants need enough sunlight to grow. On the other hand, you should not expose them to intense light or heat or they wither and die. Strawberries need sunlight for at least 6 hours a day and regular watering for keeping them grow well. Whenever you are selecting a place to plant them you should keep these considerations in mind.

Regular watering is crucial for survival of your plant. The soil should always be damp but not water-logged, as that would have considerable negative effects on the health of your plants. If this problem continued your plants would eventually  die. Excess of water might be even more dangerous to your plants than the lack of it.

Furthermore, fertilizers are very important for accelerating the growth of your strawberry plants. Possible fertilizer could be blood meal and bone meal. Alternatively you can use fertilizer available from your local gardening store. It should be applied once a month.

In addition to that, you should always make sure that your strawberry plant is weeds-free. That is because steal moisture and nutrients from your plants and therefore they can cause great harm. Snails and slugs can also cause you trouble and could potentially destroy your strawberry plants. However, there is a simple solution. Just put a copper foil around your strawberry patch. These pests will no longer dare to come closer to your plants as copper would produce an electric reaction with their slime.

When harvesting your strawberries make sure that you let them fully ripen before you collect them. Strawberries never ripen after they have been picked.

If you follow these simple tips on how to grow strawberries from seed you can be sure to enjoy the rewards of your work in the form of fresh, delicious strawberries. Growing strawberries from seeds is truly rewarding activity. Yes, you do have to put up some effort, contribute some time and energy. However,  you get the amazing experience of simply going to your garden and grabbing  few completely fresh and very delicious strawberries  any time you want. I wish you good luck with growing strawberries.

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How to Grow Strawberries

Sep 12th, 2011 by admin

In this article I will try to show you how to grow strawberries. Growing strawberries is a great way to enjoy juicy and healthy pieces of this favourite fruit. Almost everybody likes strawberries, but only very few people grow them at home. It’s a pity, because growing strawberries at home is a very smart thing to do, you can enjoy much more nutritious and healthy strawberries at the same time as reduce waste and help the environment. Here are few tips to help you get the best results when growing strawberries.

When growing strawberries you have to always keep in mind that they need a lot of sun to grow. However, you should not expose them to intense heat or light or they wither and die. Strawberries usually need about 6 hours of sunlight per day to grow well. When you are looking for a place in your garden to plant them you have to keep this consideration in mind.

Secondly, adequate supply of water is crucial for a strawberry plant. Regular watering is important, soil should always be damp. However, it should not be water-logged, as that could be very harmful to your plants and they would probably die.

In addition to that, you should use some fertilizer to ensure much better and faster growth of your plants. Commonly used fertilizer is blood meal and bone meal. Both should be used once a month. Another option could be fertilizers that can be bought off the shelf in your local gardening shop.

Furthermore, you should always make sure that there are no weeds around your strawberry plants. That is because weeds steal moisture and nutrients from your plants.Snails and slugs can aslo cause you trouble. However, these pests can be easily repelled by a copper foil that is placed around your strawberry patch. These little creatures will not dare to come near your plants, as copper would produce an electric reaction with their slime. This way you can protect your strawberry plants without the use of any chemicals.

After you’ve done all these things you can wait for strawberries to be harvested. However, make sure that your strawberries fully ripen before you pick them. That is because strawberries never ripen after they are picked. That’s all, now you can enjoy your tasty, great looking and very healthy strawberries. You haven’t used any chemicals in their production so these strawberries are better for your health and for the environment. I hope that after reading this article you have a pretty good idea about how to grow strawberries. Growing strawberries is certainly very enjoyable.

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Growing Strawberries Tips

Jul 23rd, 2010 by admin

Growing strawberries is not so difficult as you might think. Strawberry might actually be the easiest fruit to grow at home and it is definitely very tasty when grown in the garden. You can be sure that strawberry grown in your garden wil be tastier than the one you buy from shop. That is because commercial strawberries have to travel a long way. For example most of the strawberries found in UK supermarkets have come from very remote places like the Canary Islands, Argentina or Egypt. Strawberries do not travel very well and their flavour  suffers. There are many good reasons to grow them at home. Here are few excellent tips for growing strawberries.

First, location is very important. You will get the most delicious flavour of your strawberries if you grow them in sunny places. Try growing strawberries in locations which have long sunny days and cold nights.  Try to avoid windy locations, as that could make it difficult for insects to pollinate the small flowers. Finally, avoid planting strawberries at places which were previously used for growing grass. That is because there will be lots of wire worms that will destroy your plants.

Strawberries like to have space around them. Give them at least a foot of depth in the soil and at least 8 inches between each row of plants.

Strawberries will be hurt by excess of water, they don’t like to be waterlogged. Be very careful about watering them, too much water can actually be worse than too little. Strawberries will rot easily in  waterlogged environment, so make sure that your soil drains well.

Great thing about strawberries is that they are very adaptable. You can grow them almost anywhere, in a garden, in a pot or a container. Possibly the best place you can grow strawberries is in raised beds as you have more control over the environment.

One of the greatest dangers to strawberry plants is frost. It is recommended to wait until mid April for planting Summer bearing strawberries. Perpetual bearing strawberries should be planted at the same time.

We all love strawberries because of their bright red colour and their unusual structure with seeds on the outside of the fruit. However, this characteristic of strawberries also attracts birds. Therefore you should protect the plants by placing wire nettings over them when the fruits start to form.

I hope you will harvest a great deal of fresh, delicious strawberries this summer and that you will enjoy growing strawberries. It is something that I really recommend you to try.

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