Strawberries are easy to grow, but being so delicious, they are often attacked by pests.
I use a two pronged defense against the two worst offenders.
Slugs
Surround the plants with copper wire, or slug pellets early in the year. Do this before the fruit starts to show, because once they have tasted it, you can't stop them
Birds
When the fruit is ripening, the birds will drop by for breakfast, and lunch, and dinner, and probably supper aswell. I simply throw an old net over the bed and this seems to deter them well enough. Occasionally there is a strwaberry not covered, and this lasts less than a day.
Planting
Strawberries like fertile soil. I add well rotted manure to a deep trench before planting new plants, and add a granulated fertilizer to existing beds twice during the season. Once at the start, and again when the flowers show.
Cultivation
I have never grown strawberries from seed. The first plant was an established plant brought from my Mum's garden. This was added to with half a dozen from the Garden centre.
At the end of the first year, the plants send out runners, with little Strawberry plants on them.
I place a small plantpot with compost in it under these little plants, and hold the runner in place with a bent wire. I do this most years, and have a ready supply of new plants to expand the bed, or replace old tired plants.
Most runners though, I remove and add tro the compost heap. I think the energy they put in to the runners would be better served growing into a bigger plant, consequently giving me more Strawberries.
Over Winter
Our plants are pretty hardy. Mild frost and snow doesn't seem to bother them much, but if a deep frost is predicted, I throw a double layer of fleece over them.
The little plants in the pots won't survive a cold spell, so they go into the cold frame.
Picking
I pick the berries when they are red all over.
After flowering, the berry starts to swell, and it is yellowy green in colour. They turn red from the stem outwards, finally becoming all red. If left, they become a deeper shade of red, and eventually turn to mush. A deep red colour all over is the sweetest, and they last a couple of days in the fridge.
Picking selectively gives me strawberries for about a month during June and July
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