2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
June is the season of strawberries (garden strawberries) - one of the most favorite garden berries. To make her happy with the harvest, you need to take care of everything in advance. We share a few useful nuances of growing sweet and fruitful strawberries
There is a legend about Prince White and his beautiful wife. About how she was waiting for her unfaithful husband from an endless journey. How many tears a woman shed, one can only guess. Her tears-globules fell to the ground and turned into beautiful bright berries.
The princess died of melancholy, and did not wait for her husband, but these berries-tears returned the memory of the unfaithful beloved. For the rest of his life, the prince yearned for his beloved, remaining lonely. A fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it, a lesson for good fellows.
The lovely and aromatic berry really has a property that helps in memory recovery. In addition, strawberries (or rather, garden strawberries) are very fragrant and tasty. Here are some of the nuances of growing it in the garden:
Planting twice a year
Strawberries reproduce mainly by the "mustache". Very good seedlings are obtained from seeds, some of them can yield a crop in the year of sowing. For seedlings from seeds, strawberries are sown in the month of January-February, because they are very tough (25-30 days). Early sowing still guarantees a harvest in the same year. Of course, the harvest of the first year, depending on the variety, is not very large, but the next year will give the most fragrant, healthy, tasty and large harvest.
Some gardeners recommend transplanting multiple seedlings before they are permanently transplanted. But this opinion is rather controversial. For any seedlings, an extra transplant is stressful. It is better to adhere to the principle - the earlier the seedlings are planted, the richer the harvest will be in a year.
Peat tablets
In early January, February, strawberry (strawberry) seeds are usually sown in peat-distilled tablets. Since the development of seedlings is slow, it is useful to make a window mini-greenhouse over the sowing. You can use plastic bottles for this, cutting and cutting them lengthwise, or create a mini-frame with an aluminum wire and stretch a cling film over it (it is more transparent).
Avoiding drying out, you need to keep the seedlings in these containers until the plant has roots that extend slightly beyond the tablet. Then, if the time has not come to plant them, you can move them to another container with earth.
Landing without injury
When planting, you need to make sure that there are four to six healthy leaves and a strong root system on the outlet. The plants are preliminarily watered abundantly and planted together with an earthen clod from the socket into the holes (15-20 cm deep). It is advisable to leave 60-70 cm between the rows, and 30-35 cm between the seedlings.
In order not to injure the seedlings during planting, a plastic bottle comes to the rescue, in which the seedlings are grown. Before transplanting, it is cut shortly: the roots of the strawberry are close to the surface and seedlings, and they do not need a high capacity. For easy extraction of seedlings, a plastic tape is placed in advance on the bottom of the bottle so that its ends come out. For them, and then extract seedlings. Planting is best done in rainy weather, or in the evening, so that the bright daytime sun does not prevent the seedlings from acclimatizing.
Loves the sun and needs protection
A place for strawberries is prepared in advance by carefully loosening the soil and adding compost or rotted manure to it. It is useful to treat the aisle with ash. If necessary, you can additionally fertilize the ground with minerals; it is advisable to apply fertilizers to each hole prepared for the seedling. It is important to observe the dosage indicated on the packaging.
Strawberries, like wild strawberries, are one of the earliest ripe berries in Russian gardens. She loves leveled areas, sheltered from the winds. To protect the plant, you can use a bed with a small depression. The soil must be kept moist, without drying out, but also not to allow stagnation of water, which is detrimental to the harvest. It is desirable that the area with strawberries is under the sun for a longer time of the day.
Watering and pruning
The berry does not tolerate drought well. Therefore, in intense heat, it is watered abundantly about once a week or ten days. Good watering is especially important during the active period of its development (when the plant begins to bloom, berries and flower buds ripen). During flowering, watering is necessary only in the aisle, trying not to touch the delicate flowers and young, fragile berries. Overdoing it with water means dooming strawberries to various diseases and pest attacks. Gray rot, powdery mildew and slugs are especially fond of moisture. In addition, due to excessive watering, the resistance of plants to frost deteriorates.
If you still have thoughts: whether to trim the strawberry whiskers or not, then it's time to complete them and come to the conclusion that regular pruning is needed (it is impossible for the antennae to grow more than 10 cm). Especially on those bushes from which it is planned to pick berries this year. Indeed, the formation of antennae requires additional strength and energy of the plant, which could go to the formation of fruits. This means that the abundance of antennae leads to a poor harvest. Pruning is carried out with an ordinary garden pruner. You do not need to pull them out so as not to injure the plant.
For a big harvest
Strawberries usually bear fruit within two to three weeks. But this period can be extended if several plant varieties are grown at once (for example, early maturing, mid-maturing, late, including the remontant type). Experienced gardeners have long noticed that strawberries do not like to grow where not so long ago the cultures of the nightshade family "lived" (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, physalis, etc.). But after legumes, sorrel, mustard and garlic, strawberries bear fruit with pleasure.
It is better not to keep strawberries in one place for more than five years - it ages quickly and loses its productive qualities. Ideally, plant a new ridge every year for a period of five years in order to slowly update all plantings. This approach restores soil fertility and protects the plant from the spread of pests and diseases.
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