On 29/08/2013 18:26, Bob Hobden wrote:
"David Hill" wrote

Jeff Layman wrote:
Although there has been a glut of strawberries this year, in general I
haven't been awfully impressed with their flavour (I am referring to
those bought prepacked in supermarkets or other retailers). Some are
better than others, of course.

That was until yesterday, when I ate the variety "Driscolls Windsor"
(one of Sainsbury's "Taste the difference" foods and apparently
exclusive to them). The flavour, and balance between acidity and
sweetness was spot on. They were grown in Herefordshire.

So I thought it would be sensible to try to get some plants and grow
them myself next year. But they don't seem available to the amateur.
Google finds almost nothing, and Driscoll are one of the world's biggest
strawberry breeders. There are many hits on that name alone, but
nothing on the variety. Even on Driscoll's website they do not mention
any of their strawberries being grown in the UK.

Is it possible it is available to the amateur under another name? I
guess the only way to find out might be to email Driscoll.

Or use one of the fruit for seed.

After Sue's uncle died I used to look after her aunt's garden. Mainly roses
because she had an old tortoise who destroyed anything else. Except for one
plant.... he loved strawberries but only English grown ones, would not touch
Spanish etc, but what goes in comes out the other end and slowly seeded
strawberries became total groundcover under the roses. They were the best
tasting ones I've eaten for a long time, provided I got to them first. The
garden actually looked quite nice too.

Not /quite/ sure what you are suggesting here, Bob! I am getting a bit
slow in my old age, and the strawberries might not all have found their
way out yet, IYSWIM, but I don't think that my wife would be too happy
about me spreading the seeds about tortoise-style. :-)))

I'll get some more of the strawberries and try sowing some of the seeds;
I might get lucky. Just found this from the FAQs on Driscoll's website:

"Does Driscoll’s sell their berry plants?
Because Driscoll’s unique variety of plants are patented, our plants and
seeds are not for sale and can’t be grown by anyone other than our
independent farming partners."

I assume that the supply of plants to the farmer in Herefordshire is
subject to a contract which exacts heavy financial penalties if the
farmer makes any plants available to a third party.

--

Jeff