I’m King Charles’ gardener – my cheap method for growing strawberries in tiny gardens, all you need is some straw
STRAWBERRIES are an essential summer treat for many British households, from being enjoyed in a bowl with cream, to being added to a glass of Pimms.
Meghan Markle has even jumped on the strawberry hype, sending 50 jars of jam to friends and influencers to celebrate the launch of her new lifestyle site, American Riviera Orchard.
Now King Charles’ senior gardener has revealed how you can grow the perfect strawberries in your garden to enjoy this summer.
Speaking on behalf of Alt Index, royal gardener Jack Stooks – who has worked in the Royal gardens at Highgrove for more than 20 years – shared to Fabulous: “The best time to plant strawberries is mid Spring to late Spring, so March or April time.
“Planting wise, you may want to have your own little strawberry patch.
“You want to make sure it’s clear of birds before you get the strawberries.
“If you’ve got a veg garden, you can have them separate in nice long rows.
“But if you haven’t got the space, you can mix them into borders. The alpine ones do well in borders, but just make do with what you’ve got.”
And it’s not an issue if you don’t have a garden to plant them in.
Jack added: “If you haven’t got space on the ground, you can also have them in hanging baskets.
“Strawberries grow quite well at the sides of hanging baskets.
“You can have a mix of strawberries in one little hanging basket or you could have one variety of a specific flavour.
“They may be better in hanging baskets as having them near the house may scare birds off.”
But when is the best time to pick them?
The senior gardener said: “When it comes to copping, you want to start picking them in June, July, and August – sometimes the later ones in September.
“Some of them crop twice in the season. Normally it will be June, then in September there might be another crop.
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“You want to pick them when they’re starting to look fully red. Strawberries tend to be white at the beginning, then turn red.
“A lot of people put straw underneath the strawberries as they’re starting to turn.
“You put straw underneath to protect them from the ground.
“From there, they’ll become nice, red and juicy, which is when you want to pick them to either have with a fruit salad, with some cream or to make strawberry jam.”
The best thing about strawberries is that they can keep on producing new fruit, and Jack advised: “Strawberries produce runners once they’ve fruited, which are horizontal stems that run above the ground and produce new clone plants.
“It’s a bit like a spider plant.
A lot of people put straw underneath the strawberries as they’re starting to turn. You put straw underneath to protect them from the ground
Jack Stooks
“What you do with those is pin them down and grow them into the soil to get the root to start, or you can take them out and grow them in separate little planters.”
Originally from Zimbabwe, Jack moved to the UK and also works for The Princes Foundation at Highgrove.
Jack often uses his expertise and wealthy knowledge of gardening as well as what it is like working on the Royal estate.