The first strawberry of 2011

Today we harvested the very first strawberry of this year. Josiah picked it and loved it and he let me have a bite and it was sooooo sweet and juicy! We can't wait for the strawberry season to begin properly. Due to my chickens getting into my new early strawberry bed and digging out all the labels I do not know which variety that is/was, but it was lovely.

I mulched the bed twice with comfrey which turned into compost very quickly, the third time I used nettles which were quite big by then, they dried out in the sun and keep the strawberries of the soil.



With the next picture I want to show you a recycled strawberry planter I made with the eco group at my son's school. We used an old pallet and three growbags and a piece of plastic piping in which I drilled holes for easier watering.
And although we were really too late in planting and the plants were in the shed for months (Elsanta from my garden), they have picked up really nicely. I intend of giving them comfrey/nettle tea as support.

The first few fruits are already there, so lets hope the kids will become inspired to eat more fruit if they have grown them themselves...