[bloomer]

right as some of you may have gathered i have a new home from july and room for a veg bed... to encourage my kids to eat more fruit and veg (they eat some but not enough) they are all being encouraged to help grow 1 crop next year...


My eldest daughter wants strawberries,


I don't like strawberries so have never grown them!


I need an idiots guide please, when is the best time to plant them? What are good varieties for east central scotland area? What special preparations do they need? Are they better in the ground or in big tubs?


Thanks everyone for all possible help and advice.


(Thankfully the other kids all chose stuff that is easy to do from seeds)

[Womble]

Bloomer, in your situation, I'd grow them in long thin tubs - the sort of thing you might use as a windowbox. Poundstretcher have them for £3.00 each.

That way you can move them about, keep them out of the way of hens hopefully, and also take them with you when you next move house. Start off with a few plants (say four tubs at 3 plants per tub), then when they put out runners next year, stake them down in a pot of compost until they take root until they become your new plants.

We do this very successfully in the polytunnel. We've found it's important that they go outside in the winter so the frost can kill off weevils. The one year I didn't do this was a disaster! Also, the plants only seem to be productive for about 3 years, so we pot up the runners each year, which makes the whole thing self sustaining for no cost and minimum effort.

HTH!

Womble (Who's currently troughing a bowl of cornflakes and strawberries as he types  ).

[Fleecewife]

I always struggle with feed and water for crops in tubs and pots.  They soon run out of nutrients, depending on the growing medium you use.
This year is my best ever for strawberries, grown inside the polytunnel.  Outside they are eaten by slugs, snails, blackbirds and anything else that's passing, not to mention swamped by weeds and always too wet.  So in the absence of a tunnel, if you can sort the food and water problems with tubs then go for it.

Wot - no strawberry icon 


Bloomer - go on, tell us....what else do the children want to grow? 

[bloomer]

oli doesn't want anything (he doesn't want to move) but is excited about bee's and i have decided when i do my course i will pay for him to do it as well, he is bright and capable of learning and frankly likes animals more than people so why not!


cait is the Strawberry Princess...


Ben wants sweetcorn, I have explained that until we get a greenhouse/polytunnel he will be, very lucky, but i'm prepared to give it a try, the garden is south facing and fairly sheltered so we'll start them as early as possible on a windowsill and give it our best shot...


Bekah (5) wants everything but it changes daily, usually she talks about pumpkins not because she wants to eat them but because they're exciting to grow when your 5...

[HesterF]

With kids I'd suggest potatoes too. The most help I get in the garden from my three (aged 8, 7 (today) and 5) is when digging up the potatoes! They have a bed each and I've planted up runners around the edge so they each have their own strawberries (loads this year) and can then choose what else to plant. They've got mostly flowers but my son was very proud of his own pumpkin last year.

I grow strawberries in the open ground but my climate here is very different as I'm at the other end of the country. My struggle is to keep them clear because they send out so many runners, the whole bed can become rapidly overgrown. You could try alpine strawberries too. They're hardier although much smaller and seedier so not great for cooking (amazing flavour though).

H

[pgkevet]

When my granddaughter rocks up she loves the spud digging ... as well as carrots and parsnips... something about the treasure being hidden I expect... It's the same excitement she has about going to the hen house to see if 'a egg' has been laid.

[Fleecewife]

.....and another great food for kids to grow is peas. My older son learnt to love veggies by 'stealing' peas from the vines to eat fresh.  I rarely get to cook peas even now as they are always devoured fresh