The Little Balcony: Strawberry Runners into Plants

Friday, 27 April 2012

Strawberry Runners into Plants

Not wanting to buy any new Strawberry plants this year, last year I decided to pot up some Runners from the 'Alice' Strawberry plants I bought. Luckily all four plants grew really well and were eventually individually potted up for over wintering, during our colder months in my little greenhouse.

Photo: Laura Lunt Date: 15 April 2012

Winter is now over and the runners have established into great new plants with health leaves, so a couple of weeks ago (late April) these were potted up into their final growing places, two hanging baskets with two plants in each. The baskets were lined with new moss and new vegetables compost was added, with a few water crystals to help with watering.

Photo: Laura Lunt Date: 15 April 2012

These already a few flowers showing, so hopefully I'll have some Strawberries in early summer, ready to pick and eat.

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@little_balcony check out our garden in Jersey City, NJ.. Toms, cucumbers, peppers... yfrog.com/klv1ywtj

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'@little_balcony time to start feeding then...'

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'Awesome blog, LL. I just started a balcony garden myself! I'm def trying some of this stuff out.'

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Daily Garden Tips

Tip One: Use soapy water in a spray bottle to kill greenfly on fruit and vegetables, use 5-6 drops in a 500ml bottle, mix together and spray.

Tip Two: Natural Insect Repellent on your plants, mash several garlic cloves into paste, and then mix the paste slowly into a gallon of water. Let your water season for half a day, strain the garlic pieces out, and then spray your plants for a natural insect deterrent.

Tip Three: Control Slugs by creating a Slug beer trap. All you need is a saucer of beer and then place this around the plants so they can't get to them.

Tip Four: Old ice lolly sticks are perfect for labelling plants, just eat the lolly first.

Tip Five: Hang old CDs amoung crops and from fruit trees to scare away birds

Tip Six: All plants should be well watered during the summer months. Watering is best done in the evening or early morning, using recycled water whenever possible and may be required at least twice a day during very hot days.

Tip Seven: Chili Plants should be watered very little and fed once every two weeks with a little tomato feed. A little help with pollination may also be needed, use a small paint brush to tickle the inside of the flowers or place outside during the day.

Tip Eight: To help encourage tomotoes to ripen and to give them a little bit of sweetness, add a teaspoon of sugar to feed.

Tip Nine: Use old egg / fruit cartons or toilet rolls as seed trays. Once planted out they will decompost in a few weeks, leaving less waste.

Tip Ten: For shaded plants that need a little extra sun, cover some cardboard with aluminium foil, to create a light reflector.