[Marijke Jones]

Dear fellow gardeners,

Last year I planted strawberries for the first time but the crop was very disappointing. The plants survived so far but can you please advise me what I can do to get a decent amount of strawberries? Manure? Fertiliser for strawberries? They are in a sunny place.

[Oswald Bastable]

Strawberry plants often don’t produce very well in year 1. They usually produce much better in year 2 and 3 and then production will usually start to decline and the plants will need replacing.

Now and into early spring is a good time to apply some garden compost between the plants as well as some type of fertiliser - well rotted manure will work, although I tend to just use chicken manure pellets.

OB

[Oswald Bastable]

In addition to my advice above, also give them a liquid feed (tomato feed or liquid seaweed or similar) every week or two once they start flowering. Remove runners while they’re still fruiting but allow runners to grow and root once fruiting is over (for new strawberry plants!).

OB