One of the worst pests is the bird. Particularly such so-called `friends' as thrushes, starlings and blackbirds. In small gardens it is inevitably necessary to cover the rows with fish-netting held up over the plants on wires stretched from posts 18 inches out of the ground. Some people put upturned jam jars over the top of each stake and then the fish-netting slides over much more easily.
In the first place it will help, of course, if the strawberries are planted in the highest part of the garden where the frozen air is able to flow down to a lower strata.
It is, of course, not difficult to protect the strawberry rows by covering the plants with straw or sacking early in the evening on a night when frost is imminent.
Holes are bored in the bottom of the barrel to provide drainage, and larger holes-say, 3 inches across-are cut into the side of the barrels to admit the strawberry plants. In such a barrel as I have described four rows of six holes can be made in such a way that they are not exactly above one another.
The barrel should then be given a thorough soaking in Green Cuprinol and should be filled with the new no-soil potting compost through the holes so that the roots can be spread out before being firmed. In the top of the barrel, when it is full, plant another six plants. Thus in a barrel of the size for thirty good plants are needed.
Of course strawberry plants are not immune to attacks of Cockchafer Grubs, Wire Worms and Cut Worms, and a safe way of eliminating these pests is to put a tiny pile of turf sods in various parts of the strawberry bed with the idea of moving these from time to time so as to collect the sheltering 'enemies'. - 16035
In the first place it will help, of course, if the strawberries are planted in the highest part of the garden where the frozen air is able to flow down to a lower strata.
It is, of course, not difficult to protect the strawberry rows by covering the plants with straw or sacking early in the evening on a night when frost is imminent.
Holes are bored in the bottom of the barrel to provide drainage, and larger holes-say, 3 inches across-are cut into the side of the barrels to admit the strawberry plants. In such a barrel as I have described four rows of six holes can be made in such a way that they are not exactly above one another.
The barrel should then be given a thorough soaking in Green Cuprinol and should be filled with the new no-soil potting compost through the holes so that the roots can be spread out before being firmed. In the top of the barrel, when it is full, plant another six plants. Thus in a barrel of the size for thirty good plants are needed.
Of course strawberry plants are not immune to attacks of Cockchafer Grubs, Wire Worms and Cut Worms, and a safe way of eliminating these pests is to put a tiny pile of turf sods in various parts of the strawberry bed with the idea of moving these from time to time so as to collect the sheltering 'enemies'. - 16035
About the Author:
All fruit tree gardens are individual, both in the problems they gace and the way they are planned and planted.
