We are in full strawberry season here. Here's our current daily haul from the patch. It's more than we can eat, which means crisps and freezing galore for the next couple of weeks! Eating these as you pick them straight from the patch makes you a believer in B. Kingsolver's arguments. It's worth waiting for these to be in season locally, the difference between these and the red tasteless things from South America you get in February is just huge. The early's are producing now, the ever-blooming are still flowering (I think, they're pretty mixed together these days). We probably have another two weeks of the early's left, so it's lots of strawberries on cereal!
Our patch has continued to expand itself this year. It has completely taken over the front garden and has made it all the way around the apple and has even made it into the side garden by the neighbors driveway. I guess the strawberries and hops will fight it out. All of that jungle low greenery around the privet and hosta is all strawberry plants. At some point we'll have to draw the line at their expansion and probably this year we have to do the "kill the mothers" thing. Strawberries supposedly have a three year cycle, and this is year two, so we're supposed to dig the older plants (mothers) and leave the new offspring (daughters).
Speaking of the apple tree, I have apples!
I've thinned the apples out so that there's no more than two apples per cluster and trying to keep on top of the aphids. The espalier tree's haven't started producing yet, but I'm hoping they two will be producing next year.
Our patch has continued to expand itself this year. It has completely taken over the front garden and has made it all the way around the apple and has even made it into the side garden by the neighbors driveway. I guess the strawberries and hops will fight it out. All of that jungle low greenery around the privet and hosta is all strawberry plants. At some point we'll have to draw the line at their expansion and probably this year we have to do the "kill the mothers" thing. Strawberries supposedly have a three year cycle, and this is year two, so we're supposed to dig the older plants (mothers) and leave the new offspring (daughters). 
Speaking of the apple tree, I have apples!
I've thinned the apples out so that there's no more than two apples per cluster and trying to keep on top of the aphids. The espalier tree's haven't started producing yet, but I'm hoping they two will be producing next year.
