PLANTING A FRUIT BASKET

Strawberries are among the easiest soft fruits to grow, and are a great choice for small spaces, where they can be planted in the ground or in pots and hanging baskets. The benefits of raising the fruits off the ground are that it protects them from pests such as mice and slugs while also making picking easier. The strawberries are less likely to rot, too, which is common when they are exposed to wet soil on the ground. Simply follow these steps to make a basket of fruit that looks as good as it tastes.

CHOOSING FRUIT FOR BASKETS

You will find many different varieties of strawberry for sale, offering an assortment of flavors and fruit sizes and shapes. The large-fruited types are divided into two groups, based on when they produce a crop. Summer-fruiting varieties produce strawberries between early and late summer, while “everbearers” or perpetual types fruit through the summer and early autumn. Alternatively, you could opt for alpine or wild strawberries, the small sweet fruits of which appear from summer to early autumn. They also grow well in part shade, unlike the larger varieties, which prefer full sun. Strawberries are usually sold from autumn to spring as bare-root plants known as runners, but you may also find them for sale in pots.

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Alpine or wild strawberries are very easy to grow and fruit all summer.

HOW TO PLANT

In spring, buy a large basket that will accommodate your strawberry plants—one with a 16in (40cm) diameter is ideal. Most come with a plastic liner but if yours does not, use an old plastic bag to line the base. Make some drainage holes in the liner to prevent the plants from becoming waterlogged. Top up the basket with homemade potting mix and plant your berries so that the crown (where the roots meet the stems) is buried but the stems and leaves are exposed to the light. Three or four strawberry plants will fill a large basket, but you may need six or seven alpines. Press the plants in gently and water well. Suspend your basket from a sturdy hook attached to a house wall or other structure in the garden and keep the plants well-watered.

TOP TIP USE THE RUNNERS (THE SMALL PLANTS THAT DEVELOP AT THE END OF LONG STEMS) OF SUMMER-FRUITING VARIETIES TO MAKE NEW PLANTS. SIMPLY INSERT THE ROOTED ENDS INTO CONTAINERS FILLED WITH POTTING MIX. KEEP WATERED AND WHEN NEW GROWTH EMERGES A FEW MONTHS LATER, CUT THE STEM FROM THE PARENT PLANT.

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Set your basket in a large empty pot to stabilize it while you plant it up.

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This basket is planted with everbearer strawberries that fruit from summer to early autumn.

CARING FOR STRAWBERRIES

In the first year, you can remove some of the flowers on summer-fruiting varieties to encourage the plants to put their energies into healthy growth rather than making fruit. This practice should deliver heavier crops in subsequent years—plants are productive for up to four years. On everbearers, remove some of the flowers that appear in spring to promote a later crop in autumn. These varieties tend to fruit best in the first or second year and will then need replacing. Alpines will fruit year after year and you do not need to take off the flowers.

As the flowers of large-fruiting types fade, apply a homemade compost or plant tea every week or two by watering on the diluted mixture. After the plants have cropped, remove dead or dying leaves and cut back the stems to 4in (10cm) above the soil surface—just remove old foliage from everbearers. Strawberry plants are hardy and can remain outside in winter, but if the flowers start to develop before the last frosts in spring, protect your plants with fleece.

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Remove some or all of the flowers of summer-bearing strawberries in the first year after planting to encourage a bumper crop the following year.

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