I love picking strawberries. Having grown about four different varieties, the biggest have definitely been the best and most flavourful.
Not especially green-fingered, I've bugged my friends for advice but sadly they've not been able to help. And resisting those seed packets is difficult.
Step 1. Buying is easy.
Step 2. Watching seedlings is nail-biting.
Step 3. Planting out is back-breaking.
Step 4. You can't go away because they'll die of thirst.
Step 5. You have to go into battle for ownership.
When I've grown things at low/ground level, the greedy slugs and woodlice fed on them, so this year I decided height was the answer.
I planted some strawberries in the raised bed, put straw around them and after they'd been pollinated, put the netting over. The woodlice and slugs have no willpower and love this luscious fruit. As do the birds. It's also apparent that birds love the challenge of hanging baskets. After eyeing the basket from the ground, gauging correctly, do an upwards thrust and...yummy. Whatever happened to birds eating slugs and worms?
I am fortunate to have loads of bees and would personally like to thank them for all their hard work and if they wish to join me in a meagre helping of strawberries and cream, they're welcome.
The birds love them all. They peck holes in all of them. There is only one solution. You have to put straw down, shells also work when broken as they are sharp, and then you wake up before the birds each morning to snatch all the ripe ones up before they do.