Why can’t I grow strawberries?
Chris McDonald, by email
Stefan says: You’re clearly frustrated by your failure with strawberries. You’ve been trying to grow them in a large pot in your greenhouse and you tell me they had leaves but didn’t produce any fruit and the leaves just curled and died. You’ve tried different feeds, including Tomorite and MiracleGro, but without any success.
I believe you have, in fact, partly answered your question because you wonder if the greenhouse was too warm. I think that may be so. It’s always worth remembering that the strawberry is a northern plant and not, unlike so many of our garden subjects, from the Mediterranean. The optimum temperature is from around 15-25C but the heat in a garden greenhouse in summer can soar above this. Strawberries, of course, are grown commercially in large greenhouses, but the temperature is carefully controlled and cooling is used.