Propagating strawberries and other jobs on the vegetable patch in summer

Say it quietly, whisper it even, but it appears that summer has arrived. Following the wettest spring in nearly forty-years that big yellow ball in the sky has finally poked through the gloom; well at least for a few days. 

It is that wonderful time of the year, the middle of summer. Astronomical summer began on Thursday 20th June 2024 and ends on Sunday 22nd September 2024 if you are interested in those sorts of things. I have spent as much time as possible lately simply just being in the garden; not that easy a task at times with the rain we had in July! I have mentioned before in this column that I strongly believe there is little point in having a lovely garden if you never really get to enjoy it, and now is prime time to enjoy it, weather permitting. 

In between the occasional glass of something nice in the sun or a snooze in a chair there are plenty of things to be doing on your plot at this time of year.

Watering the lawn has not been a concern of late, far from it, but keeping the plants in pots well watered is a constant job as is keeping them well fed. I have Feeding Thursday on my pot where everything in a pot received a good soak with liquid feed as well as all the plants on the Vegetable Plot. Liquid Seaweed if my go to feed for just about everything with the Tomatoes receiving a specialist Tomato feed; those plants in the Greenhouse being Beefsteak varieties that can produce huge fruits are also fed on a Monday.

The harvests have begun and through June and early July I have been enjoying Casablanca and Pink Fir Apple new potatoes as well as Florence Strawberries. I have also had the first Tomatoes from the Greenhouse with the Domingo and Red Brandywine varieties beginning to ripen.

I grew the potatoes in 30-litre pots again this year and it is a great way to grow the early varieties. I wouldn’t recommend trying to grow main crop potatoes in pots personally, they need time and space, but for early-types 30-litre pots give you plenty of room to plant three or four tubers and grow enough spuds for many a summer salad. The strawberries were also grown in containers, large urns and pots in my case, and it just confirms that those with even the smallest of space available can grow, and enjoy eating, some home grown produce. A couple of pots, one either side of your backdoor, could produce you enough strawberries for a dessert or six during the lazy hazy days of summer. 

One of the beauties of strawberries is they will produce ‘runners’ in late summer in an attempt to create new plants and you can very simply propagate these. Strawberry plants tend to produce less fruit after three or four years anyway so this is a great way to keep your supply coming year after year. Choose a healthy runner which has produced what is basically a tiny strawberry plant along the runner, far enough away from the parent plant to allow you to work. Fill a small pot with multi-purpose compost and place the strawberry runner, while keeping it still attached to the parent plant, on the surface holding it in place using a u-shaped staple or a piece of wire either side of the ‘baby’ plant. Don't snip off the stem linking the new plant to its parent, keep it attached until the new plant has developed strong roots. Keep the compost moist for the next couple of weeks or so as the plant takes root. Once the plant is showing signs of good growth, snip off the stem connecting it to the parent plant, and plant it into a larger pot. You have a new plant for free!

Cheers 🍺