At long last I can report that there has finally been a successful crop at of strawberries at Sallygardens! This is our third season trying and I had sworn that if we didn't get a decent return we would cut our losses and never try again. In year one we bought some plants and eagerly put them outside in a well prepared bed. Anticipation rose as a huge spray of flowers appeared promising us a big bounty. The fruit all set and we watched them daily as the white strawberries began to swell. One day we saw the first blush of pink and the next day ... they had all been demolished by slugs! Lesson learned.
The following year we bought a beautiful terracotta strawberry pot. We positioned the pot by the back door, off grass, on the footpath which did a great job in deterring the slugs. The fruit got a stage further this time, a beautiful rich red colour, but on closer inspection the strawberries were almost hollowed out by ants. We put a thick coating of vaseline around the base and upper lip of the pot and that stopped the ants in their tracks. However waiting in the wings for their opportunity were the birds who swooped in and wiped out most of the remaining fruit. Smeared in vaseline and surrounded by a cage of chicken wire the once attractive terracotta strawberry pot had become quite an eyesore.
Year three and the polytunnel was our final stab at growing our own strawberries. We planted them into a mulched bed along the southern edge of the tunnel. No slugs, ants, birds or other vermin managed to attack the young crop. Indeed we've had three massive helpings so far with full bowls for all the family. It's been such a mouth watering success that I'm going to devote three times the area to the strawberries next year.
My friend Mary has come up with a great way to grow strawberries out of harms way plus it utilises every inch of potential space to grow food. This method would be ideal in urban settings with restricted space. She has used plastic gutters against the wall of her house. The guttering contains a length of seep hose and each section slopes gently downwards to assist drainage.
Great to hear. Love knowing these lessons and tricks learned--hope to put them in play...thx
Posted by: Sherry | June 19, 2008 at 08:42 AM
Success!
Posted by: Lizz | June 19, 2008 at 09:11 AM
Hurray for strawberries! Glad you finally have some sweet success. :)
Dasterdly slugs are such a menace.
Will have to give vaselin a try to deter the pesky ants here. At least the sugar ants. The fire ants would probably just eat it, the wicked things.
Don't forget to freeze some of your strawberries. Lovely to pop some out during the dreary winter. Like sunshine in a bowl. :)
Posted by: Pamela | June 20, 2008 at 02:14 PM
Does it face south? I'm just wondering if it would work here. I love the idea.
Glad you had heaps of strawberries. Ours don't usually get as far as the kitchen!
Posted by: Jean | June 21, 2008 at 06:10 PM
Mary's strawberry rack faces south east so not directly south. Our strawberries in the tunnel are growing along the southern wall. They do need a good blast of sunshine to get the most out of them.
Posted by: Rebecca Hillman | June 26, 2008 at 09:42 AM
I really like your friends idea of using guttering. We too have the terracotter pot. The dog was our preditor along with the birds. I'm going to give the guttering a go this year, it sounds like a great idea.
Posted by: Maddy | June 29, 2008 at 01:11 AM
your strawberries look great! the guttering looks like a great idea, i wonder what seep hose is and where i can get it. also, do you water these the conventional way or does the seep hose have something to do with it?
Posted by: Péitseoga | July 17, 2008 at 12:59 PM
Hello Sally, I have just been reading over your blog. It looks fantastic, you have put so much work into it. I also have a blog that is quite similar and I wonder if you would be interested in swapping links.
www.seedtofeedme.blogspot.com
you can contact me on seedtofeedme@gmail.com regards, Lorna
Posted by: Lorna | April 17, 2011 at 03:29 PM
I put one of these great contraptions up on my fence and it is really very simple. I do have one question: Do you close off the ends of the gutter? Or do you leave them open? My seep hose runs exactly like it is in the picture, but I may lose some soil. I put a bird net over mine
Posted by: Margaret Palma | May 02, 2012 at 10:25 PM