STRAWBERRIES!
Home-grown, vine-ripened strawberries
are
among the garden's supreme treats- sweet, succulent, and bursting with
flavor. Serve them
in shortcakes, blended into smoothies, on ice cream, in cheesecakes or
crepes, topped
with yogurt or whipped cream, or simply savor them "as is" fresh from
the garden.
Grocery store strawberries, which are harvested early and ripened off
the vine, can't begin
to compare in sweetness and flavor.
Strawberries are also easy to grow in the home garden. The plants form
foot-wide
mounds of lush dark green foliage that can serve as an attractive ground
cover. They
require no staking or training, as do the larger berries, and only basic
care. Once planted
they will spread and continue to produce for four or five years before
they need to be
replaced.
Strawberry plants also grow well in pots, patio planters, even in hanging
planters. While
there are many varieties of strawberries, there are basically only two
types: June-bearing
(Allstar) and Everbearing
(Ozark and Quinalt).
The June-bearing strawberries bloom
in the spring and produce a plentiful crop that ripens during June. The
Everbearing
strawberries produce both a spring and a fall crop, and continue
producing some berries
throughout the summer, more when temperatures aren't too hot. For the
home gardener,
the best strategy is to plant both types and harvest ripe berries over a
long season.
