WEED & FEED STRAWBERRIES

The first strawberries will be ripe in a few weeks, so spend some time this weekend tidying up established strawberry beds. Weed (carefully) around your plants. Do this with a hand-held trowel or fork rather than a push hoe or spade, as strawberries have wide spreading roots that are easily damaged when you’re yanking out competing weeds. Once the weeds are all cleared, lightly water in fertiliser. You can use any general purpose NPK fertiliser, as strawberries are vigorous growers with a general hunger for nitrogen as well as the potassium in a specialist fruit fertiliser such as Daltons Strawberry Fert or a tomato fertiliser. The final step is to lay mulch or straw over the bare soil around your plants to suppress weed growth and keep the developing fruit clear of the soil. Later, when the fruit is ripe, it will be less susceptible to rotting on the undersides or getting grey mould if it isn’t sitting on damp spring soil. Get your bird covers sorted now too. Plastic netting does the trick.