Strawberries in the Making
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
We've got blossoms on our strawberry plants! Look in close. There's a berry in the making.Since this is our first year with the strawberry plants, I did a bit of reading about the kind of care they need. BackyardGardener says that when new strawberry plants get their first flowers, "you have to make a major policy decision." (Oh no. Policy decisions.)
"First-year flowers on maiden plants will give the earliest crop and the largest individual berries, but if you remove this first year's blossoms and wait until the second crop, the yield will probably be greater than the total of two years' crops on plants fruiting in their first season."
What?! Good grief. You mean to tell me that, after months of doting on my new strawberry plants -- hoping and waiting to see if they'll produce something -- now I have to pluck off their first blossoms? No way! I can't bring myself to do it. Not a chance.
I'm opting for the earliest possible crop. Whipped cream and sugar are at the ready.
2 Comments:
I admit it: I'm doing it too, though I should know better. I'm having to be patient with the fruit trees, so I see no reason why I should pamper the strawberries. Also: impatient!
Me too! I faced the decision this week myself in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I'd rather plant another patch for patience's sake because it's my first year in a new garden and I *need* those strawberries. Ha ha!
Leigh
www.herwords.org
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