I had probably around 40 strawberry plants last year. A lot of these plants had been grown on from runners. These really had not performed well even the previous year, so I made the bold decision last year to take them all out and start again.

With funds from my birthday last November, I purchased four new varieties. All of which develop at different times in the season. Recently arriving through the post, it is now time to get these in the ground.

I also have a completely different area for the strawbs now. They are actually in the bed where the old Gooseberries were. It is in full sun. With a lot of manure including fish, blood and bone meal, I secured black teram over the bed last year in November in order to try and keep weeds down, and to keep the soil warm. Planting through the teram I hope to keep moisture in the soil while cutting down on weeds and hopefully, as the plants grow bigger, they will sit on top of the teram keeping the berries off the soil. I will still have to keep a check on the slugs and snails though.