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