Thursday, July 1, 2010

My Huge Strawberry Patch


Above is a photo of my portion of our strawberry crop. Five strawberries. Okay, one is just the stem because I ate it before I thought of taking a photo.  I have three strawberry plants, each of which looks like this:


I could have had about 12 strawberries, except that the birds got the others. When I saw the beautiful robin flit from the strawberry plant to the fence, and wait for me to get away from her dessert, I took only five berries and left the others for her. After all, I have plenty of food in my refrigerator for lunch and dinner. I thought Mama Robin needed a break.

If these plants continue to look this good, I may plant a few more next year. We'll see how it goes.

Do you have a strawberry patch? And is there a particular variety of strawberry you'd recommend? (We live in zone 3.) Got any pointers about how to keep disease and pests (not birds) away from the plants? The time may come, when I have enough strawberries to make something, that I'll want to keep the birds from my strawberry crop, but not now. :-)

14 comments:

  1. Ah, sweet of you to feed the birds! We would love to have a strawberry patch. Netting works for the birds and I read that you can plant Borage in with your strawberries to repel many types of pest. I have not tried this. Good luck!

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  2. 5 strawberries to be enjoyed is still better than no strawberries! But bounty would be nice ... :)

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  3. You've got 5 berries more than me :) My strawberry plants didn't do well this year (zone 5, Colorado). I have 1 left out of 10, they all died. And the 1 that's left fell victim to the hands of 2 curious 3 yr olds a few days ago so its pretty well dead :( You're so sweet to let the mommy robin have the berries :)

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  4. I planted strawberries too and all I did was feed the wildlife. I got maybe 3 all season (our season is done down here in Georgia)

    Diane
    www.turning-the-clock-back.blogspot.com

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  5. I will *not* be taking a picture of my weed... *cough cough*... I mean /strawberry/ patch. ;)

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  6. Ugh! I planted some, but I admit that I didn't keep good care of it. :(

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  7. I'm very impressed that you have a strawberry patch...I don't plant anything because it usually dies. LOL, 5 strawberries are just as good as anything! Congrats!!

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  8. We don't have strawberries, but our blueberries are doing fantastic!

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  9. We live in Arkansas, but the only strawberries I have grown, other than wild ones that I must pull out of my garden continuously, are in containers. I must say, we don't really do too well with container gardens. We did buy in bulk and made yummy preserves this year.

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  10. Yummy! I would plant more! You can never have enough strawberries! I love them! Have a great day!

    Mama Hen

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  11. I love strawberries, so yummy.

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  12. I totally wish I knew how to plant here in Texas...it's SO different from WI. I can't even go anywhere to PICK strawberries! I'm bummed could really go for some homemade jam without spending a fortune just to get strawberries! So glad yours are doing so well!

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  13. Mmm strawberries. We have wild ones growing here that are teeny tiny but very sweet.

    Thank you so much for stopping by my blog earlier today.

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  14. How did I miss this post??? Where was I!!! Your strawberries look so good! Just wait, you will be getting quite a crop in a few years. I think we started with 3 plants too..... We now have a bed about five foot by two foot. They spread really nice! This year we got about 4 quarts. (we think! just to tempting to eat right off the plants) So far we haven't had any problems with bugs, so can't help you there. As for birds, we haven't noticed any eating the strawberries but we have noticed little nibbles from the mice. They have to eat too, so we just share. I don't think there is much you can do about them.
    Strawberries are such a rewarding plant to grow! And it is one of the first things ready in the garden!

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