Why Grow Your Own Strawberries When you think of summer what do you think of Sunny days playing on the beach eating ice cream What about eating strawberries In summertime there is so much lovely fruit to eat including blueberries raspberries and delicious sweet strawberries Freshness and Flavor How about growing your own strawberries Homegrown strawberries often have a lot more flavor and you can’t beat them for freshness (cid:87) Strawberries are easy to grow at home 6
You Don’t Need a Yard You don’t need a lot of space to grow your own strawberries They are happy to grow in pots and containers Better all Around It’s fun to grow your own and you can be outside a lot and get some exercise But it’s not just good for us it’s also good for our environment too If we only have to step into the backyard or go to a windowsill to get our fresh fruit and vegetables we don’t use gas to drive to the store to buy them Flower Leaf Crown (cid:83) A healthy strawberry plant will have shiny dark green leaves SCIENCE SPOT Close-up of a Strawberry Plant The roots of a strawberry plant grow from the crown This is why it is important to plant them carefully making sure the crown is just above the soil but not too exposed 7 Roots
Be Prepared So you’ve decided to grow some strawberries Before you get going it’s a good idea to prepare what you will need All About You You will be outside a lot so you will need some old clothes that your grown-up helper doesn’t mind if you get dirty Don’t forget about your feet rubber boots or old sneakers will do (cid:87) Gardening gloves a trowel and small fork may be useful but not essential (cid:88) You will need a watering can or you could use a jug 8
and Your Strawberries You can grow strawberries in most types of large container If you grow them in a pot instead of growing them in a plot you will need some soil It is a good idea to add potting mix to a pot or plot (cid:83) Your strawberry plants will look attractive peeking out through the holes (cid:87) You will of course need to buy young strawberry plants (cid:88) It is important to feed your plants to help them to produce fruit rry Stra e d b o w fo Top Tip Keep a growing diary Write everything down such as the type of strawberry you planted and when you did things This will help if you decide to do it again and will be fun to look back on If you have a camera you could take pictures as well 9
