wrote in
:

PtePike wrote:
I have been picking alpine strawbs for a couple of weeks now but are
small, 5p coin size.
They kept their foiliage all through winter along with many flowers,
should I have maintained them? I thought about nipping here and there
but decided not to.
I grew them from seed and they are Mignonette, have you any advice
for me please.

None at all, really, I'm afraid. I grew mine a bit by accident about
6 years ago, in a big pot, and they've kept going ever since. Mine
stayed leafy and with a couple of flowers, too, but they don't seem to
have suffered from it.

5p size isn't that bad, really. They /are/ alpine strawberries, they
are meant to be small. I think mine are a little bigger than 5p size
(well, 5p on the main bit, but a bit elongated), but not much.
Noticed another handful have ripened since yesterday!

I don't actually like them, they're just there for the kids to go
rooting through when they remember. :-)

Oh, one thing to note - vine weevil seem to really enjoy them, so
watch out for vine weevil grubs,a nd don't d othe silly thing that I
did before they went in the pot, which was to plant them under a grape
vine!



Thanks for your reply.
I think after your comments that I have grown something I dont like too
much either!
I took the plunge and planted a grape.....guess where!

We live and hope that not too much damage has been done.

Thanks
PtePike

PtePike wrote:
I think after your comments that I have grown something I dont like too
much either!

Heh. They're a bit of an aquired taste. Certainly not big and juicy
strawberries. But they do have a much longer growing season! (start
earlier and keep going much later - although last year was a bit odd with
our real strawberries growing into late November, iirc!)

I took the plunge and planted a grape.....guess where!

:-) You may be lucky, and you can get things to treat vine weavil that you
just water on, if you're that way inclined. I got sent to pick them out by
hand, cos it was "my fault" for putting the strawberries in. :-( Not a
pleasant job.

wrote in
:

PtePike wrote:
I think after your comments that I have grown something I dont like
too much either!

Heh. They're a bit of an aquired taste. Certainly not big and juicy
strawberries. But they do have a much longer growing season! (start
earlier and keep going much later - although last year was a bit odd
with our real strawberries growing into late November, iirc!)

I took the plunge and planted a grape.....guess where!

:-) You may be lucky, and you can get things to treat vine weavil that
:you
just water on, if you're that way inclined. I got sent to pick them
out by hand, cos it was "my fault" for putting the strawberries in.
:-( Not a pleasant job.



In future dont get caught hehe.

They have a very intense strawberry taste, but without the strawberry juiciness. They're best used either as nibbles while you're out in the garden, or to add to something else - layered with cream inside a sponge cake, scattered over ice cream or added to muesli, for example.