The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Growing => Fruit => Topic started by: sellickbhoy on August 30, 2009, 09:29:10 pm

Title: Alpine strawberries
Post by: sellickbhoy on August 30, 2009, 09:29:10 pm
I've tried to grow these twice from seed with nothing to show for my efforts

anyone grow them from seed and can you give me some hints/tips to get some success next time?
Title: Re: Alpine strawberries
Post by: doganjo on August 30, 2009, 11:59:13 pm
I tried too - got the plants growing, and flowers, then just a few berries and really really tiny, but very sweet.  Mine were in very poor soil under the trees with only a little natural water filtering through.  Oh, and they had gravel round their necks like the other alpine plants
Title: Re: Alpine strawberries
Post by: sunnyjohn on September 12, 2009, 08:42:21 pm
Hi, Bought a couple of small plants from the left-over trolley (reduced prices for doubtful stock) at our B&Q garden centre. That was last year. They did fine, but little fruit (pun intended). This year they've gone like a train! HUNDREDS of the tiny, fiddly, sweet fruit, plants quadrupled in size and have colonised half the (conventional) strawberry bed with their runners!

The fruit is delicious, but are oh, so fiddly, I question how useful they are..? It takes an age to gather enough for a single serving. Likewise, their flavour would be good in tarts, smoothies, jam, etc, but would take days to gather enough. I'm loathe to bin them, like anything that thrives against weeds and pests, but I wouldn't recommend them as a main crop. Unless someone can tell me something important I've missed...?

John
Title: Re: Alpine strawberries
Post by: doganjo on September 12, 2009, 08:45:37 pm
My pal had loads of them in her rockery - just used them as pretty flowered ground cover that you could snack on while weeding the bits they hadn't invaded  ;D ;D
Title: Re: Alpine strawberries
Post by: Unicorn on September 13, 2009, 10:54:27 am
Sunnyjohn

A cook would love those - Nigella would cover them in chocolate and use
them to top her muffins :o ;D ;D
Title: Re: Alpine strawberries
Post by: sandy on September 13, 2009, 11:44:06 am
 ;Dwe have some strawberry plants that are a waste of space, we should look at those Alpine ones, the thought of them on my muffins tempts me!!! We also bought 2 Blueberry shrubs thhis year,one has some fruit the other only a stick now so must be dead, between the strawberry plants and the Blueberries we can collect much more out on walks with the dogs!!! We may nip of to B&Q today and my OH always goes to the bargain bit, this time we need some tulip bulbs, love them when they flower.
Title: Re: Alpine strawberries
Post by: sunnyjohn on September 16, 2009, 07:32:26 pm
Sunnyjohn

A cook would love those - Nigella would cover them in chocolate and use
them to top her muffins :o ;D ;D

THERE's a sight to behold! Dream on! ::) :-*
Title: Re: Alpine strawberries
Post by: Unicorn on September 17, 2009, 09:18:59 pm
I did wonder - well smile to myself after I had posted it

Can be taken two ways - and she does have a nice pair of muffins ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Alpine strawberries
Post by: r+lchick on September 29, 2009, 04:20:07 pm
I had a glut of them this year.  They are in my boyfriend's (he is also my neighbour, very handy) flower bed.  He picked them and we dried them in my dehydrator.  We have put them on our cereal instead of buying cereal with bits in them.  Worked great, a lot gets you even less dehydrated, but who cares, they are yours and you know what has gone into them.  Knowing his garden mainly cat P......