My favorite part is berries for sure and one we have around here called Tayberry, a cross of blackberries and raspberries
Beautiful! How are you keeping the critters out of those?
I’m doing a much better job than I did last year. First- I have thinned out the plants to leave only the largest mature plants with plenty of space in between. I water only in the morning so that the surface is dry by night time when slugs come. I have also laid bark mulch (straw would be good too I think) which helps with slugs. Then finally I got some cheap bird netting from Amazon. So far we have only seen two berries with slug bites. Last year at least half had damage. If you or anyone else knows much about this I am trying to find out something: I want to cultivate the runners which will grow after the berries. Next summer, can I harvest from those runners or do I need to remove the flowers and wait until two summers from now to harvest berries from those runners?
We’ve been able to harvest fruits off of the new runners from our established plants in their first year. Strawberries only produce reliably for a few years, so a two year wait will reduce the yields and increase management time dramatically.
Which varieties are you growing?
Okay great I was hoping that’s the case. I have just Rainer strawberries which are June bearers
looks wonderful! Enjoy!
Ours have started ripening too, not quite ready yet. But: while my mum was in the garden with her back turned for a second, our dog went and ate one right off the plant! Watch out if you have any greedy dogs in your home ;)
