The Star: October 19, 2017

32
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Thursday October 19 2017
Gardening
Editorial
supplied by
The Star
www.gardener.kiwi
Delicious berries
If you want to grow berries, but aren’t sure which ones or how,
Hannah Zwartz has a place to start
THERE ARE many things to love
about growing berries.
They’re compact plants,
squeezing against fences, into
large tubs or otherwise unused
corners.
Many tolerate part-shade,
which is useful on an urban
section, and makes them great
companion plants forming the
understorey or canopy of a ‘food
forest’.
Unlike fruit trees, they crop
within the first year of planting,
and of course, they taste all the
more delicious when freshly
picked.
‘FEET IN THE SHADE, HEADS
IN THE SUN’
Many berries are found
naturally in deciduous
woodlands, lifting themselves
into sunlight to flower and fruit,
but spreading their roots in deep,
damp leaf litter. They need sun
to fruit well, but they dislike dry,
baking heat, preferring a coolish
root run that never totally dries
out. Too much humidity or
waterlogging are not good either.
Ideal conditions for most berries
would be free-draining soil with
plenty of compost and leaf mould,
deeply mulched with rotting
woodchip.
WHERE CAN BERRIES
GROW?
The ultimate garden accessory
must be a walk-in netting-covered
cage (birds love ripe berries
almost as much as children do).
Failing that, those with smaller
gardens can use a fence or wall to
support berry canes, with netting
attached to drop down and cover
ripening fruit. There’s a berry
to suit most niches – even the
smallest garden has room for a
tub or barrel with strawberries,
raspberries or boysenberry canes.
STRAWBERRIES
A bowl of fresh-picked
strawberries for summer
breakfasts is an achievable luxury;
as well as being delicious these
berries are rich in vitamins and
iron. Ancestral strawberries were
woodland plants, fruiting early,
before the leaf canopy closed over
for summer. Modern strawberries
are bred for later fruiting, and
need lots of sun to fruit well,
but still hate to dry out. For a
longer season, plant more than
one variety. Prepare a bed with
plenty of compost; planting along
a ridge above a ditch makes for
easy watering. A nice deep mulch
of pine needles is said to improve
the flavour while also deterring
snails. Strawberries also do well
in large pots, which can be moved
into the garden’s sunniest spots as
berries are ripening.
Plants might be short-lived,
producing their best crops for
just a few years, but you can
keep propagating runners for an
ongoing supply of new plants. Peg
the first runner into a pot, to be
cut off and replanted once roots
have grown. (Those further down
the line will never crop as well.)
Replanting these runners every
winter or spring, while digging
out the oldest plants, keeps the
bed producing well. Experts
recommend six to seven plants
per person.
•Turn to page 34
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