Doing it like the pros

Gardener:Old Mangakino Orchard (McCallum's Garden)

Date:05 Sep 2023

Blog Type:Vegetables, Flowers

So last year we got heaps of strawberry runners and not a lot of strawberries.  I think it was due to having them in the greenhouse.  I potted up a bunch of the runners and at the end of summer decided I would try what the commercial growers do.

Made a big mound of dirt (well actually it was more a huge mound of horse poo but dirt sounds better). Pegged down a sprinkler hose for irrigation and put some black plastic over the top. I then cut out holes and planted the runners with my not so secret ingredient (Yates Dynamic Lifter). 

They are going gangbusters.  So much so that they were flowering and fruiting over winter so a couple of weeks back I gave them a heavy prune right back to leaves so they could get ready for Spring.  

And now they are flowering like mad again and fruiting like crazy. I can almost taste them. Just goes to show that sometimes things are done for a reason.  I think the black plastic has really helped with warming the soil. 

Doing it like the pros