[jambop]

So I have just ordered my strawberries, they were on offer from a nursery 20 of a variety that fruits May to July and 20 that fruit July to October €25 not a bad price. The weather has been wet the last couple of days so when the arrive I may just put them into pots until the bed has been prepared. I have some well rotted manure to dig into the bed and was going to cover the bed with weed supressing fabric and plant through it. Anything that I should try to do other than dig in the manure and of course make sure the patch is free of problem weeds ?

[snowdrops]

Make sure you create a ridge to plant them on top of, don't plant where potatoes have been grown recently or next to where they will be, don't plant too deeply, sit back & get the cream ready

[Yorkie]

Lots more info on John's article on the main website: http://www.allotment-garden.org/fruit/strawberries-growing/

[jambop]

Thanks yorkie lots of info there. Growing them may be different down here as it gets warm very early in the year BUT we do get a lot of spring rain which can be very heavy... damagingly so! I was thinking about getting some plastic sheeting to make a cloche for them to keep the rain off them it can be quickly turned back when the sun is hot. I have a large stand of bamboo in the garden which is great for making cloche supports simply cut bend tie down in bunches and leave to cure in the sun.

[jambop]

So my plants arrived today. They are bare rooted and look good and healthy. I am still prepping the ground so should they be kept in the fridge until I plant them out ? I am sure I read this was the best option not that they will be lying about for more than a day or two at most.

[Tim Inman]

The fridge would be good, I think. Actually, I discovered a package of strawberry plants in the back of my 'shop fridge' just yesterday. They arrived in April, and got buried somehow in the back of the cooler. They appear to be pretty much OK. So, I'll plant them out now and see how they do. I think cold is your friend right now.

[jambop]

Well my plants are in and I hope they are going to do well... but ... I have been doing a wee bit of research on growing strawberries and have read on one or two sites they require 6 hrs of direct sunshine each day to obtain a successful crop! Surely that cannot be right even down here in sunny SW France there are times of the year this is not possible especially in the winter months. Used a great tool to plant them ... an old shutter hinge ? The fork in the end allows you to push the plant to just the right planting depth them a quick firm up and the jobs done less than a minute I had forty to plant took me about and hour all up. But it is not just the speed it really allows you to get the correct depth very easily and you don't disturb the soil at all.

[greenjay]

why can you not plant near to potatoes?

[mumofstig]

The potatoes may leave Verticillium wilt fungi in the soil which will kill off the strawberries

[booklady]

Well my plants are in and I hope they are going to do well... but ... I have been doing a wee bit of research on growing strawberries and have read on one or two sites they require 6 hrs of direct sunshine each day to obtain a successful crop! Surely that cannot be right even down here in sunny SW France there are times of the year this is not possible especially in the winter months. Used a great tool to plant them ... an old shutter hinge ? The fork in the end allows you to push the plant to just the right planting depth them a quick firm up and the jobs done less than a minute I had forty to plant took me about and hour all up. But it is not just the speed it really allows you to get the correct depth very easily and you don't disturb the soil at all.

Jambop, I'm sw France too and have no problem growing strawberries at all.  I don't bother with plastic ground coverings,  I weed between - although not many weeds as I heavily mulch, pot up babies at end of runners until spring for planting out, plus lots of rabbit droppings placed in between established plants. I will cut right back all leaves in a week or two. Hey presto, lots of enormous and tasty strawberries in the summer!

[jambop]

Jambop, I'm sw France too and have no problem growing strawberries at all.  I don't bother with plastic ground coverings,  I weed between - although not many weeds as I heavily mulch, pot up babies at end of runners until spring for planting out, plus lots of rabbit droppings placed in between established plants. I will cut right back all leaves in a week or two. Hey presto, lots of enormous and tasty strawberries in the summer!

Hi Booklady
I live quite a bit further south than you near Pau quite close to the Spanish border you live in a nice part of France spent some time in that area on holiday many years ago.
 I don't think I will have a problem getting some strawberries but for example just now the sun does not get onto them until mid day due to a very high tree but after that they get uninterrupted sun until after six in the evening so they should do OK I think. We don't usually get much by way of frosts but if we do them it will be one them until after noon. I used the weed fabric mainly because I had some and secondly although I do get the hoe working as much as possible I would prefer not to


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