STRAWBERRIES

Growing great strawberries
If you have strawberry plants in the garden you will be joining the crowds at Wimbledon and enjoying a big bowlful of them, with cream. They will be a lot sweeter when you realise how much cheaper your bowl is. It isn’t difficult to grow your own and you can even plant them out now. Strawberries thrive in a wide range of soils, from light sand to heavy clay. Ideally though, not too wet. Put them in a place where the soil is well-drained and rich in humus. They prefer to be planted in full sun and out of the wind (like when we are on the beach).

Prepare the soil prior to planting by digging over the soil, removing any perennial weeds by hand and adding manure to the ground. Place the strawberry plants every 35cm (13 in) within the row, with the rows being 75cm (30 in) apart, and plant with the crown at soil level. Water in well and do what you can to keep the slugs away…

Strawberry plants can produce fruit for five or six years. However, after the first two years the yields will be reduced dramatically and a build-up of pests and diseases can occur. Strawberry beds are usually kept for two or three years before they're cleared and planted on new ground.

Growing tips
Regularly hoe between the rows and individual plants. You might also want to place a net over the strawberries to stop birds and squirrels from eating the fruit. Place straw in the rows and under the fruit trusses to suppress weeds and prevent the fruit lying on the ground. Barley straw is the best option, as it's softer and more pliable. If you can't get straw, use polythene sheeting, such as an old bin bag.

Growing in a basket
Growing strawberries in a hanging basket ensures they're kept out of the way of slugs. Plant five to six plants in a basket in spring, and water every day during the growing season. From flowering until harvest, feed the plants every ten days with a product that's high in potassium, such as a tomato feed. The same strawberry plants should continue to produce fruit the following year, but the crops will be better if the plants are renewed.

How to harvest
Pick any fruit as soon as it's ripe to prevent it rotting on the plant. Check the plants every other day during the ripening period. The fruit is ready when it has turned red, although different varieties have different shades. It's best to harvest the fruit in dry weather. Pick gently to avoid bruising and make sure the green stalk (calyx) remains with the fruit.

Aftercare
After harvesting, remove the straw or matting that has been protecting fruit from the ground. Compost straw and debris, or clean and store matting for next year.

Cut off old leaves with hand shears and remove, leaving the crown and new leaves untouched. This allows sunlight into the centre of the plant, ensuring a better crop next year.

Feed and water well.

Leave nets off to allow birds to pick off any pests.

Propagation
It's simple to make more strawberry plants. The plants send out runners over the surface of the soil during the growing season. These can be pegged down, usually in June or July, while attached to the mother plant. Eventually, they will form a separate plant. Allow about five runners to develop from each plant, this will stop the mother plant being too drained of energy. In August, when the runner plants are well established, cut them from the parent and either put into pots or their new place in the garden.

Five to try
· ‘Elvira’ - a heavy cropper producing large, soft fruits from June to early July.
· ‘Hapil’ - high-yielding variety with large, bright red fruits from early to late July.
· ‘Florence’ - grows well in all soils and produces large, dark fruit in late summer.
· ‘Vivarosa’ - one of the few varieties to produce pink (instead of white) flowers.
· ‘Fragaria vesca’- provides good ground cover in cottage gardens.

NEW VEGETABLE PATCH

We have been expanding our veggie empire over the last few weeks. With the price of fuel going through the roof bumping up the price of nearly all of our groceries, there is no better time, or excuse, to start growing your own. Being able to go out into the garden and pick food for tea gives me a great deal of satisfaction. It’s also very good exercise and the taste is far superior to most shop bought products, cheaper too. You can pick what you need when you need it, leaving the rest to grow in both size and nutritional content.

Raised beds
We have been cramming the vegetables in seven small 6 foot by 3 foot raised beds until recently, but this wasn’t nearly enough to feed the growing family for more than a few meals a year, so it was time to remove some more grass and spread out. To save our backs, a small mini digger, being used by a neighbour was brought in to scrape off the top growth of grass and reeds to create the initial bare bones of the plot.

We then began by deciding how the site was to be laid out. I like the idea of raised beds; they are beneficial in a number of ways.

Raised beds drain more effectively when the soil gets wet
They warm up sooner in early summer giving the young plants a head start.
You don’t compact the soil by walking on it like in a conventional vegetable patch.
They are easier to work on because you don’t have to bend over so far.
And lastly, I like things to look neat.


We wanted the beds to be a bit larger than the ones we have been using. As convenient as the existing ones are, they proved to be a bit restricting when growing larger plants such as courgettes and broccoli. Instead of using the treated fence panels as before, we decided to just mound up the soil into beds of about 14 foot long by 4 foot wide. The length isn’t too important but for the width, you need to be able to work on the beds without compacting the soil. We didn’t want to use anything too solid in the design so the paths in between the beds are made from recycled pallet wood ground up into small chippings by the local recycling centre. The wood acts as a very effective path that stops us getting muddy in wet weather and is sturdy enough to run the wheelbarrow over.



It all happened so quickly.
As soon as the beds were made we started to plant. Firstly we had some very poorly looking garlic and onion sets, which we put in the ground. These needed urgent attention and have made a miraculous recovery. The salad went in next. It only seems like a few days ago when the seeds were planted but we are already enjoying a bumper crop of lettuce, rocket, coriander, chives, parsley and radishes.

The young courgette plants had a bit of a slow start because we had to rely on watering with the hosepipe at first, as there was no rain. Plants don’t respond well to tap, but since the weather turned wetter the plants have just burst into life and we are harvesting the small delicious vegetables nearly every day. The first sowing of peas and beans are also working their way up the hazel rods and the spinach is young and tender and ready for picking. Let’s not forget the fruit, blackcurrants are forming and e are also watching the strawberries turning red.

Not everything happens so quickly in the veggie patch though. Some things are worth waiting for. The brussel sprouts will be ready in time for the Christmas period and the purple sprouting broccoli will be there in the early spring.

Help is at hand
Planned well, this vegetable patch could supply us with fresh, home grown food at all times of the year. I also like the fact that we are partly self-sufficient and not so dependent on the price of fuel and transportation costs dictating the price of everything we are buying. Starting small is the key so things don’t get on top of you. All that is needed are a couple of beds and a bit of forward planning.




If you want any help starting a vegetable patch, we have plenty of friendly advice and help on the forum site on http://www.gardening.ie/

WHAT TO DO WITH GRASS CLIPPINGS

When the days are at their longest, some of us with large expanses of grass tend to start sinking under the vast quantities of clippings produced. The simplest way to deal with them is to just leave them on the lawn. There is even a phrase known as "grass cycling" to make us feel less lazy when it comes to dealing with the problem. The grass clippings soon rot down and are a natural feed. This saves money buying fertilizer and saves time bagging up.



There are a few points to note though.



1. Grass will need to be mown frequently (every five days) to prevent your lawn drowning in clippings. Check the cutting blades of the mower are sharp; this will help get a clean cut.



2. Avoid mowing when the grass is damp or wet as this causes the mower to drop large clumps of grass every so often. In my experience, it's hard to combine the wet weather and five day mowing rule due to our climate, but we can try.



3. Be aware that children and dogs will track these clippings indoors possibly onto carpets. In some cases, an adapter kit is required to allow you to safely operate your mower without a bag, or alternatively you could opt for a new mulching lawn mower itself. These tend to be quite expensive, but it may save you a lot of time and fertiliser.

Add areas of low maintenance in the lawn to cut down on excessive grass clippings

Compost them

Grass clippings are approximately 85 percent water and 4 percent nitrogen, which means if composted correctly they will rapidly reduce to one tenth of their volume. A bag of grass clippings would reduce to handful or two of compost. Add carbonA compost heap usually includes other wet waste such as vegetable peelings and fruit. To balance this out, dry matter or carbon material could be added. This will help to keep the air circulating and stop it from smelling. Dry matter includes paper, wood chips, leaves and broken sticks.



Add equal amounts of wet and dry matter to keep the fruit flies at bay and stop the smells. Another way to let the oxygen circulate in your pile is to aerate it. This means turning the grass clippings and other materials to loosen up the piles. Let them bakePut grass clippings in the sun for a day before adding them to the compost pile. This will dry out the clippings and reduce the volume considerably. Adding lime to the compost bin will help to kick-start the decomposing process and prevent the development of moulds and nasty odours.



If you have recently applied pesticides or herbicides to your lawn, do not add the grass clippings to your compost piles until the rain has wash off these chemicals completely.Bin themIf you have a brown bin, then take advantage of this to dispose of your lawn clippings. This is perfect for gardens with a small lawn.



Under the hedge

Grass clippings can be used for weed control at the base of your hedges. This helps to retain moisture and adds organic matter and nutrients to the soil. For best results spread about an inch or two of weed free clippings at the base of the hedge avoiding its main stems. Add more clippings when the previous batch has broken down.



Over the hedge

A pile of grass clippings is very attractive to hungry horses, ponies, donkeys, cows and sheep, but if the animals gorge themselves on the grass, it can prove fatal. Pasture bloat and colic are the main cause of illness, then there is always the possibility of pesticide poisoning if the lawn has been treated recently. Be wary of using this method of disposal, especially if you are doing it unawares to the farmer.



Reduce your lawn area

Try adding flowerbeds and areas of low maintenance if grass clippings are getting too much for you. Also you could plant a few native trees and shrubs for the birds. Less lawn equals fewer clippings...

HERBS IN THE GARDEN

Most herbs are trouble free to grow and look after. They look good, smell good and do you good. Ever since humans have been on the earth, herbs have been used as medicines, perfumes, insect repellents and, of course, in foods and flavourings.

This huge group of plants includes trees, shrubs, annuals and even cacti, to name but a few. One important thing to remember when growing herbs is that they are the foundation of all modern medicine. They are not the gentle, delicate things some would like you to think. They are healers, therefore they should be treated with respect, and if you are considering them for specific medicinal use always consult a doctor or qualified herbalist. If you are growing herbs for use in the kitchen then you could have fun reading up on how they flavour food. Some herbs aid digestion and help you sleep soundly for example.

Easy to grow
Herbs can tolerate all types of tough growing conditions. Most of them were originally wild plants that grew in poor soil. Some varieties can be spoilt by the lush conditions of a garden. If they grow too large their flavours and properties become lessened. It's a myth that all herbs like full sun; even good old basil likes partial shade at midday. So when planning your garden, you can divide your plants into two sections, those like thyme, sage, rosemary, French tarragon and oregano that like full sun and those that like partial shade, such as rocket, sorrel, lettuce, mustard, parsley and chervil.

Containers and window boxes
Some plants that will do well in a herb window box on the sunny side of the house are chives, oregano and lemon thyme. Creeping thyme could be used to drape over the edge of the containers. However, on the shady side of the house a salad herb window box could be planted up with wild rocket, chervil, French parsley and red mustard.




Growing Tips
When growing herbs in containers, use a soil-based compost, either organic or something like John Innes potting compost. This is because there are very few herbs that grow in peat, and a soil-based compost retains moisture, which is a must to stop containers drying out.

Water the containers in the morning rather than the evening because this gives the plants a chance if the temperatures are hot during the day, especially for containers grown in full sun.
Feed container plants weekly from March until September. This keeps the plants healthy, helps them produce tasty leaves, especially on cut and come again salads. As we are on the coast, a seaweed-based feed is ideal or you could make your own comfrey or nettle juice now. These are not too strong and both will promote healthy leaf growth without making the plants grow too big and tasteless.