It's strawberry season! Finally!
I've been waiting impatiently for my strawberries to ripen out there in the garden for what seems like weeks. Spring came early this year with an extra warm and dry March. I dutifully watered my strawberry beds as I have tasted the fruit of a very dry spring before: small and sour! So I gave those plants plenty to drink, hoping to plump up the little beauties nicely. (Insert witchy laughter.)
I don't know about you, but strawberries are just about my very favorite fruit. They are super juicy, sweet, and full of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. But nobody eats these babies because they are healthy! They are just delicious!
And strawberries are very easy to grow. They need full sun, like most fruit, and a nice fertile soil with plenty of organic matter. You can purchase packs of 25 bareroot plants at your local nursery. I particularly like a variety called Honeyoye. Weird name, but yummy fruit. When you are buying your plants, be sure to look for June-bearing varieties instead of day-neutral plants. The day-neutral strawberries were created to stretch the strawberry production season, but I have found those plants and berries to be inferior.
The first year during which a strawberry plant grows, you need to pick off all the blossoms so that the energy goes into the roots and creates strong, hardy plants. So no berry harvest that first year. But the second spring, your vigorous plants should produce a bumper crop of sweet fruit.
And if you have no space or no inclination to grow your own, you can always pick your own instead! Close to my home in western Howard County is Larriland Farm where you can pick a wide variety of fruits and veggies, including strawberries. Visit their website at www.pickyourown.com before heading out there to be sure your favorite crop is ripe and pickable that day.
Were you expecting some kind of sinful strawberry dessert recipe from me? Well, I'm not going there! No, strawberries are too wonderful all by themselves to require any sugary preparations. My strawberries will be eaten mostly for breakfast, au natural, with a large dollop of creamy Greek yogurt. They are also awesome in salads! And when the crop overwhelms us, I'll fill quart-sized freezer bags with berries to use in shakes. Let me know what you are doing with your strawberries this week!
hocofood@@@
I've been waiting impatiently for my strawberries to ripen out there in the garden for what seems like weeks. Spring came early this year with an extra warm and dry March. I dutifully watered my strawberry beds as I have tasted the fruit of a very dry spring before: small and sour! So I gave those plants plenty to drink, hoping to plump up the little beauties nicely. (Insert witchy laughter.)
I don't know about you, but strawberries are just about my very favorite fruit. They are super juicy, sweet, and full of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. But nobody eats these babies because they are healthy! They are just delicious!
And strawberries are very easy to grow. They need full sun, like most fruit, and a nice fertile soil with plenty of organic matter. You can purchase packs of 25 bareroot plants at your local nursery. I particularly like a variety called Honeyoye. Weird name, but yummy fruit. When you are buying your plants, be sure to look for June-bearing varieties instead of day-neutral plants. The day-neutral strawberries were created to stretch the strawberry production season, but I have found those plants and berries to be inferior.
The first year during which a strawberry plant grows, you need to pick off all the blossoms so that the energy goes into the roots and creates strong, hardy plants. So no berry harvest that first year. But the second spring, your vigorous plants should produce a bumper crop of sweet fruit.
And if you have no space or no inclination to grow your own, you can always pick your own instead! Close to my home in western Howard County is Larriland Farm where you can pick a wide variety of fruits and veggies, including strawberries. Visit their website at www.pickyourown.com before heading out there to be sure your favorite crop is ripe and pickable that day.
Were you expecting some kind of sinful strawberry dessert recipe from me? Well, I'm not going there! No, strawberries are too wonderful all by themselves to require any sugary preparations. My strawberries will be eaten mostly for breakfast, au natural, with a large dollop of creamy Greek yogurt. They are also awesome in salads! And when the crop overwhelms us, I'll fill quart-sized freezer bags with berries to use in shakes. Let me know what you are doing with your strawberries this week!
hocofood@@@
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