[Growster...]

When we moved to 'Growster Turrets' about 22 years ago, Mrs Growster spied a wild strawberry, growing in a crack in the old brick wall which surrounds part of the garden.

The dear little chap, clearly the result of a bird poo, was sending about three runners out, so she potted them and completely forgot all about them.

But they grew and grew, and became an extended family - all over the front garden (which is kept wild for that purpose).

Now, after all this time, we have several hundred of the plants, dotted around in unlikely positions, and the flavour of these berries is so intense, that the socks are indeed knocked off at an enormous rate of knots!

These berries are exquisite, and an old chum called them 'Fraises du bois' and said we should eat them with orange juice dripped over them, but we have them with ice cream and often sorry to say, with Tesco's 'value' straws, becaue they enhance the other fruit incredibly well!

Now's the time for them to come into their own, and thank goodness that blackbird/thush/eagle/albatross decided to relax somewhere near our new home...

[viettaclark]

I used to have loads all through the borders as (edible) ground cover and they were indeed exquisite.
Then I got chickens........

[lancashiregardeninggal]

Am I right in thinking these are otherwise known as woodland or alpine strawberries?

[Growster...]

I think they might Lancs!

We dote on them, and they really do taste fantastic when compared with the usual stuff from other growers - especially supermarkets.

And yes, the commercial growers can't match the flavour - ever!

[lancashiregardeninggal]

Yeah - they're a real delicacy - there's nothing like them.  For anyone interested I think most seed suppliers sell them now (seen some in T&M) 

[stompy]

Hi,
I've been thinking of growing them for a few years now.
How do they grow?
Do they grow year after year like normal strawbs or are they anuals?

I have heard that their flavour is unsurpassable and they have a much longer cropping period!

[Growster...]

"How do they grow?
Do they grow year after year like normal strawbs or are they anuals?"

They grow like perennial weeds Stompy!

They send out their own runners each year, and can take over any area where you're not fussy about what grows there... (We've got a wild area out in the front, where they are growing superbly at this time of year).

We've never done anything to them, except uproot a few here and there and chuck them somewhere else where there's room!

If you can get some, then you're there!

You're right about the flavour of course, and yes, they do go on for a few weeks, but this year, being dry, they'll probably all finish about the same time.

[lancashiregardeninggal]

Mine don't send out runners they just self seed - and they usually come through the winter ok but the leaves are softer and smaller than ordinary strawberries - they are very dainty plants and the strawbs are not even the size of my thumb nail but taste much better than normal ones

[mumofstig]

Wiki seems to think that there are woodland strawberries which produce runners and alpine strawberries which produce few runners

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragaria_vesca