GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

15-04-2003, 08:44 AM

In article ,
(seepnezorf) writes:
| I live in zone 6...northern Mass. In late fall I piled about 3 inches
| of hay on top of my everbearing strawberries...1st years.
|
| We have been having some warm days and I started to notice new growth
| so I removed the hay and started airating the soil. They get about 8
| hrs of late morning/afternoon sun. I figured that if they were left
| covered and the weather was warm they would either rot under the damp
| hay or it would become a great breeding ground for fungus and other
| insects.

The main point in covering them is to get an earlier crop.

Modern garden strawberries are a cross between Fragaria vesca and
some North American species. I can't tell you how hardy the latter
are, but the former grows right up to the Arctic.

Regards,
Nick Maclaren.