Selwyn Times: July 05, 2016
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SELWYN TIMES Tuesday <strong>July</strong> 5 <strong>2016</strong> 29<br />
Strawberries – plant them now for summer<br />
• By Tod Palenski<br />
STRAWBERRIES are one of the<br />
most popular edible plants to have<br />
in the garden. And it’s not hard to<br />
work out why.<br />
They’re tasty of course. But they<br />
have a couple of other great factors<br />
going for them. They can be<br />
eaten straight from the garden –<br />
always a plus.<br />
But more importantly they can<br />
be grown just about anywhere. It<br />
really doesn’t matter what size of<br />
garden you have or whether you<br />
even have a garden at all.<br />
Strawberries can be grown in<br />
almost anything – a cut off drainpipe,<br />
a planter box, in the garden<br />
bed, in a hanging planter and<br />
more.<br />
As long as they can see the sun,<br />
and your garden bed or ‘planter’<br />
is well-drained, you can expect<br />
great growing results.<br />
Strawberries are best planted in<br />
June or <strong>July</strong>. Or, if you live down<br />
south, probably best to wait until<br />
August when the soil is a little<br />
warmer.<br />
As with all plants, soil preparation<br />
is important. Strawberries<br />
prefer a soil pH of 5.8 to 6.2,<br />
which is slightly acid, so you<br />
shouldn’t need any lime.<br />
You can enrich the strawberry<br />
bed by digging in potash and<br />
REFRESHING: With a little care and the right site, strawberries<br />
are easy to grow.<br />
composted vegetable matter to<br />
provide a boost of food for the<br />
plants as they grow, and fowl<br />
manure to reduce the pH.<br />
Planting in a pot or container?<br />
Use a top quality potting mix and<br />
for an extra boost of goodness<br />
apply a liquid fertiliser to the mix.<br />
Before planting raise your garden<br />
bed by mounding the soil.<br />
This will encourage circulation,<br />
drainage and can add depth to<br />
shallow soil.<br />
Plant your seedlings around<br />
the edges of your garden or pots<br />
to encourage the strawberries<br />
to hang over the sides and prevent<br />
the fruit from touching the<br />
ground and rotting.<br />
Dig a hole 10cm deep and place<br />
the seedling inside. A deep hole is<br />
required to give the roots plenty<br />
of room to spread out and grow<br />
but be careful not to bury the<br />
plant. Pack the soil firmly around<br />
each seedling. Plant each seedling<br />
around 300mm apart from the<br />
next.<br />
Once planted it’s important<br />
to keep them well watered at all<br />
times. When the weather starts to<br />
warm up during spring it’s a good<br />
idea to surround the seedlings<br />
with peastraw or newspaper to<br />
help keep away weeds and retain<br />
water. The more moisture they get<br />
the juicier the fruit will be.<br />
Place netting or wire over you<br />
plants when they begin to produce<br />
fruit. This will block out birds and<br />
ensure you get to eat the strawberries<br />
yourself.<br />
In spring, add another dose of<br />
general fertiliser to your strawberries<br />
to encourage sturdier plants<br />
that are more disease resistant<br />
heading in to the warmer<br />
months.<br />
Then sit back and wait till<br />
Christmas to enjoy the sweet sensation<br />
of your own hard work.<br />
Once your strawberry harvest<br />
has finished, if you’re using<br />
hanging baskets or similar<br />
containers, it’s best to pull out<br />
your strawberries and plant new<br />
ones after a year to freshen up<br />
the soil (don’t forget to use new<br />
potting mix).<br />
But if they’re in your garden,<br />
your strawberry patch will last a<br />
couple of years. After this you can<br />
simply use a combination of your<br />
runners and new plants to create a<br />
new patch.<br />
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This gives you the flexibility to use them for any tasks you may have around<br />
the house and garden.<br />
Our current fleet consists of three single axle trailers; two of which are caged,<br />
and one that isn’t, one tandem axle trailer, and a covered furniture trailer.<br />
Rates are based on a half day (up to four hours) or full day (up to eight hours).<br />
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All trailer hire requires a $20<br />
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For more information on this<br />
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