Crab apples trees
Category Archives: Fruit growing
Best tasting Strawberries
One of the fruits that is always worth growing is Alpine Strawberries Fraises des Bois (as the French call them), are everything supermarket strawberries aren’t, delicate,tiny with unsurpassed taste, it’s rich and powerful, reminding you why the Greeks saw the strawberry as a symbol of Venus, the goddess of love.
Also called wild strawberry or woodland strawberry they will happily grow in a shady part of the garden perfect for growing in the light shade under trees.
They are almost impossible to buy but easily raised from seed or division once there growing and tolerant of much colder weather than there delicate appearance suggests.
Interestingly they would make a great underplanting for Blueberries as they both need Acidic soil and the Blueberries would provide gentle shade
If you wanted to grow them in a Potager then they would make a perfect edging to a bed in which you would grow Lettuce as they both like similar conditions
Producing Plants
Alpine Strawberries are also one of the quickest ways to get fruit into your garden as its 3.5 to 4 months from the time you germinate seed to picking your first fruit.
Once you have them growing you can split them to increase your plants as they have lots of growing points unlike garden varieties.
Pollination
Pollination is an important aspect of growing strawberries. It’s not usually an issue when the plants are growing in their normal season when there are insects such as bees present but if you can have some plants that attract more polinators as this is always beneficial, borage is a good companion plant for strawberries as it flowers over a long season.
Planting Out
Try to add well rotted manure ( which is acidic normally) or garden compost to your growing bed and if you have some well rotted leafmold that would be perfect as it replicates there natural enviroment
Here I plant in the shade under a silk tree
A Shaded Growing Bed
Most gardens have a shaded area within them and often it is quite a problem finding ways to utilise the shade to grow productive plants. My film will show you how to create a perfect growing space in the shaded area of your garden.
How to grow BlueBerries
Blueberries have become deservedly popular they not only taste great and are so much better when allowed to ripen on the bushes.They also make wonderful garden plants with dramatic Autumn colour.
Blueberries can be grow in the garden but they do require a PH of below 5.5 so if your garden grows great Camellias or Rhododendrons they will be fine.
I grow them in containers and as you can use Ericaceous compost this overcomes one of the commonest problems which alkaline soil and try to water them with rainwater which also helps.
They have great health benefits as they are full of cancer-fighting antioxidants and recent studies in the USA at Florida State University have shown blueberries can also have a really positive effect on reducing high blood pressure.
If you would like to plant Blueberries in the ground its exactly the same way as Gooseberries This film show how
HOW TO PLANT AND GROW CHILEAN GUAVA
Although Chilean Guava (Myrtus ugni) has seen a resurgence and become popular in the UK due to Mark Diacono in his book ‘A Taste of the Unexpected Book’ and lattlery James Wong from his Incredible Edibles range but It has a much longer history having been Queen Victoria favorite desert it was grown for her in Cornwall
Now being grown commercially in New Zealand and Australia and called the Tazziberry and is becoming popular as a specialty fruit.
It is a really pretty shrub and can easily be grown as part of a mixed border or even in a container just cover as the berries ripen