1. Good Organic Gardening - January-February 2016

FAMILY HEIRLOOMS | STRAWBERRIES
Above: ‘Pineapple Crush’
Below: Mixed Alpines from Diggers Club include
‘Mignonette’, ‘White Baron Solemacher’, ‘Red Wonder’,
‘Regina’ and ‘Reine des Vallees’
cascades of petite, wonderfully flavoured
fruit from late spring right through to
early autumn. You might also like to try
‘Regina’ with its heavy crop of sweet,
bite-sized fruit in steady supply from
November right through to March.
For something truly unique, look out
for white-fruiting varieties like ‘Baron
Solemacher’, which displays petite white
strawberries that the birds seem to
ignore. I’m not sure if it’s my imagination,
but the white-fruiting types taste sweeter
to me and you don’t have to net them
with the same commitment as with the
red varieties.
‘Pineapple Crush’ is something really
special, with masses of highly scented
white-yellow fruit with just a hint of
pineapple flavour on a compact, nonrunning
plant. You’ll know the fruit is
ready to harvest when it’s soft and pale
yellow. It’s a great variety to grow if you
want to extend your harvest because the
fruit is heaviest in autumn, just as the
summer croppers are finishing.
For centuries, Europeans
ate woodland strawberries
growing wild on the forest
floor but it was sometime in
the 1300s that the French
began cultivating wild
strawberries in the garden.
Their compact, runnerless form makes them ideal for garden edging
Growing
There are some very good reasons to grow
Alpine strawberries at home, not least of which
is their ability to tantalise the tastebuds. Just
a few ripe fruit can scent the air, announcing
their arrival, which is a big reason they often
don’t make it inside at all.
The ripe crop is staggered over months, so
there’s lots of picking to be done and, because
the fruits are delicate and easy to squish, you
rarely see them in the shops. Their neat growth
habit makes them an excellent choice for pots
and hanging baskets or garden edging.
Like plump modern-day varieties, Alpine
strawberries grow best in rich, fertile, welldrained
soil. They can be grown from seed
sown during spring or summer and they
enjoy sunny spots but will benefit from part
shade in hot areas.
Feed and water regularly, particularly when
the fruit is setting, and they’ll crop well for
three or so years. Ripe Alpine strawberries
last only a short time, so visit your strawberry
patch regularly to pick the fully ripe, fully
coloured fruit.
Alpine strawberries are smaller and
less juicy than modern varieties, but their
abundant foliage, delicate texture and scented,
flavoursome fruit make a winning combination.
Because the temptation is so great to pick and
eat them fresh from the plant, you rarely get
enough to use in the kitchen. If some manage
to make it indoors, I think they are best eaten
simply with a dollop of cream or ice-cream or
— dare I say it — just a sprinkle of sugar.
For more information, visit diggers.com.au
Pick daily as they don’t last long
Unripe ‘Fraises des Bois’
24 | Good Organic Gardening