[Rangerkris]

What do you put around the base of your strawbs to protect them from the soil, i was thinking straw as that what used to be used when i was a kid on the PYO farm.

[gobs]

Yes.

[cathangirl]

Good, clean straw.  Watch out no mouldy bits in it.
cathangirl

[Rangerkris]

Thanks peep's will poop over and see the farmer tomorrow.

[Yorkie]

Good, clean straw.  Watch out no mouldy bits in it.
cathangirl

Thanks peep's will poop over and see the farmer tomorrow.

Or perhaps even pop 

[Rangerkris]

Good, clean straw.  Watch out no mouldy bits in it.
cathangirl

Thanks peep's will poop over and see the farmer tomorrow.

Or perhaps even pop 

Opps    no point in edit as you quoted me hahahahahah.

[Yorkie]

  Just a gentle joke, couldn't resist the pun, not being the grammar and spelling mafia, before anyone takes this the wrong way 

[Rangerkris]

Yorkie belive me it great to have some humor on the forums. i wont take it the wrong way if it upsets someone let them get on with it life's to short.

[Ivor Backache]

I have sown strawberries for the first time and need to prepare their bed. I was going to use straw which is needed to keep the fruit clean. I wonder what other growers think of this: Putting plastic bags through the shredder and using the resultant 'plastic straw' as an alternative. (My shredder cuts into thin strips)

[SnooziSuzi]

I think if you're thinking of putting anything down then either straw or black weed proof membrane would be best;  slugs would have a jolly old time hiding in the plastic, and let's face it, you're never going to pick up all of the little bits of plastic bag so you'd be forever digging them out of your patch as they won't decompose for something like 10,000 years (I read somewhere  )

[Trillium]

Actually, that's where strawberries got their name...they were mulched by straw, the only option at the time, to keep the berries off the ground and from spoiling quickly. I mulch mine with straw and it works a treat. Later the straw decomposes nicely and I can add more each season. It's also easier for the new runner plants to poke into the ground rather than something like black plastic or enviromesh type stuff. Jane Austen refers to it in her book Emma.

[Ivor Backache]

Just a thought and really I agree with what you say. If it was feasible, then someone would have marketed it. Its just that straw used to be a waste product but today there is no such thing in farming.  Also you don't see many straw bales, they are all big round ones. Try taking one of those in the car!

[SnooziSuzi]

Just a thought and really I agree with what you say. If it was feasible, then someone would have marketed it. Its just that straw used to be a waste product but today there is no such thing in farming.  Also you don't see many straw bales, they are all big round ones. Try taking one of those in the car!

I put a 'wanted' request up on ad-trader.co.uk asking for some and was contacted by a local farmer who sold me some small bales for £1.50 each.  The ads are free - give it a go

[Trillium]

Farmers who supply horse farms usually do the square bales so that the feed can be managed properly. The bales are around if you look for them. Cow farms, however, mostly use those monster round bales which can weigh between 1,000 to 1,500 lbs. A bit of a strain on the car suspension 

[sclarke624]

Ivor backache you can get straw in a pet shop if thats any help.  Think I read somewhere not to get hay by mistake, but can't remember why.