[LILLILEAF]

As we all know its strawberry time :)most of us love strawberries either to eat fresh make jams or puddings.
We have a few strawberry plants some in the ground and some in hanging baskets.
The ones we have at home are some i bought from Lubera they are called freejumper they cost £2.50 per plant with free postage,they have a fantastic flavour,they survived the latest bad winter they are producing lots of fruit .
My husband bought some strawberries yes bought some strawberries :mad:they smell very nice but they taste of nothing but sour fruit no strawberry flavour at all,so what do the commercial growers do to the plants that make them tasteless?are they grown by means of hydroponics.
 Whats your favourite strawberry??.

[lettice]

I grow the Lidl ones I bought back as plants in June 2016
Roman, Merlan and Tristan.
As last year, this years new runners have been cropping very well, with loads of bowlfuls picked so far.
I grow mine in rectangular pots.

Do agree, like most homegrown veg/fruit, shop bought is tasteless compared.
Have bough the British strawberries in Waitrose and Morrisons in the past and they were not a good strawberry flavour.
The local strawberry fields near us though do produce a better tasting strawberry.
But the home ones beat them by miles in taste.
Mind they would reject one I picked this morning, odd shape but it tasted divine.

[LILLILEAF]

If it tastes good who cares what it looks like.
 Thats why there is so much wasted fruit and veg when its wonky.
My strawberries so far have been all different sizes and shapes but they very taste good.

[8doubles]

Not bought a fresh strawberry for decades but i can still recall how tasteless they were !

Put a tall glass of mascerated strawberries in the fridge yesterday !
 Just waiting for the cream i put in to fill all the airspaces so i can tip some more in !

[jaydig]

Ooooh, strawberry pavlova, strawberry shortcake, strawberry jam, strawberry mousse, strawberry ice cream, strawberry smoothies, strawberries and cream, strawberry lollies, just strawberries eaten fresh and warm from the plot.........what have I missed out?

[Tenhens]

When picked straight from the plant no contest , no matter what the supermarkets tell you.
Similar with tomatoes.

This is one of the reasons why we do what we do and share our experiences on these pages.

[theothermarg]

And beans !! These are three of the things I would do without out of season rather then buy in a shop

[grinling]

I have several kilos so far and have frozen about a few as well. Hubby fancies strawberry wine and I will also make strawberry ice-cream.
I have also shared with the neighbours,dog and chickens.

[Goosegirl]

Home-grown strawbs and also rasps taste far better than any shop-bought ones no matter where they originated from.

[upert]

We recently ate shop bought strawberries. Then I produced mine from the plot and the taste was so much better. I literally forced people to try them both just so they could see.

I also have chickens which lay the most delicious, dark yolked, rich eggs. I regret that most people nowadays probably don't know what fresh, organic produce tastes like raised the old fashioned ways.

[Goosegirl]

I had my first home-grown white strawberry today and it was dee-licious!! We also have hens and there is nothing like a fresh egg to have in either a salad, poached on toast, or just scrambled. Now I'm waiting for my first autumn rasps to develop as I dug up the other old summer ones I had because of the invading couch grass.

[SnooziSuzi]

I had my first home-grown white strawberry today and it was dee-licious!!

GG, did you have them netted off to deter the birds or, as they don't go red, did the birds not bother with them?

How do you know when they are ripe?

Su

[jaydig]

We've just had lunch:  cheese, onion and potato bake from the freezer, with a simple salad, but the salad was all from my plot: fresh crispy lettuce, spring onions, the first few outdoor tomatoes and a mini cucumber from the greenhouse. The tomatoes actually tasted of tomato, the cucumber was juicy, the lettuce crispy and sweet and the spring onions were quite hot.  What a difference from what comes from the supermarkets.

[Goosegirl]

I had my first home-grown white strawberry today and it was dee-licious!!

GG, did you have them netted off to deter the birds or, as they don't go red, did the birds not bother with them? How do you know when they are ripe?

Su

They aren't netted and OH just gave them a feel when they seemed to be a good size.