[veggies]

can you grow fruit in the green house like stawberries etc in the green house over the winter, or when is the best time to plant them, would i buy them from my local garden centre...cheers paul

[SnooziSuzi]

HI Paul,  welcome to the forums

I will bow down to someone who knows better, but I wouldn't have though there would be any point in growing them under glass because they flower and set fruit depending on day length/available light so even if they were in the GH I don't think they would crop out of season.

You normally would buy them as rooted plants from a garden centre, but if you know anyone on your allotments (assuming that's where you plan to put them) who has any excess runners (little plantlets that branch off to become new plants) they might let you have them to plant.

Normally you would put them in in late autumn/winter and by spring they have established enough of a root system to get going for next season.  Alternatively, you can put them in in spring, but in order to give the plants enough time to establish good roots you should take the flowers (and therefore the fruiting part) off until year 2 and you should aim to replace your plants, either by seed or by runners you have potted on yourself, every 3 years in a new part of your garden/allotment.

There are lots of varieties, so if you really really like strawbs you could try buying cultivars that will extend your cropping period (but not the plants) by planting type 1 that will fruit in, say May, type 2 that will fruit in June etc.  I only bought one type but already I have had enough of them!

Hope this helps

[8doubles]

If you overwinter plants in the greenhouse you might get your strawberries a couple of week earlier but its hardly worth the effort. Alpines might keep producing fruit in the g/house if there was something around to pollinate them. Only ever see the odd big bumble about doing the pollination bit in winter .

[Debz]

My mum grew her strawberries in the greenhouse in big pots and as a result we were eating hers about six weeks before mine were ready outside.  She had the door and window open most days for insect pollination but you do have to be prepared to water often because they don't get rained on and are of course mostly water.  They didn't flower over winter though because the greenhouse was not heated and "went to sleep" like the outside ones did.

[Greengirl]

You can grow them in pots in the greenhouse for an earlier crop, but :

1) They need a period of cold to initiate flowering, I believe, so don't bring them in until late winter / early spring

2) You might need to help pollinate them if there are few insects about

3) You're advised to dump them after cropping as they've been forced (Not sure I could bring myself to do that though).

[veggies]

hi all, thanks for the tips etc, i was thinking about getting a greenhouse soon with plastic green ( safer for kids ) i dont have a allotment yet, will it be worth trying to row them in say two rows of grow bags in a line with say 3/4 plants per bag.....

[Greengirl]

You can certainly grow them in grow bags - I think i'd put 4 in a bag. As they are not in a communal soil bed, you can put the bags as close as you like. You will need to water them well however & if you can raise the grow bags the trusses of fruit will hang down, keeping the fruit off the ground & making them easier to net from the birds & to pick.