My strawberry patch

The most recent addition to my kitchen garden is my strawberry patch. Instead of growing these in the ground though, I decided to plant them in tubs.


Anyone from Melbourne will probably recognise these as the old council recycling tubs. My local council recently switched to wheelie bins for recycling, and encouraged residents to find other uses for the old tubs, rather than throw them out.

They seemed to be the perfect size for growing something in, and when I saw some strawberry plants for sale at my local nursery, I knew that this is what I had to use them for.



I bought six different varieties (Hokowase, Lowanna, Red Gauntlet, Strawberry Delight, Sweetest, Tioga) and a couple of the plants already had some strawberries growing on them. It will be a few weeks before they're ready for picking, but when they are, I'm looking forward to some tasty, homegrown berries.

The berries you buy in the store nowadays just don't seem to have that much flavour. Often they're still a little green, or they are bruised and mouldy.

The best strawberries I ever tasted were in Paris about 5 years ago (2001). I remember walking past this little greengrocer with a craving for some fresh fruit. The strawberries stood out because they had a strong, sweet aroma. I took some back to my hotel room, where I had some that night, and finished the rest off the next morning. The flavour was so intense, and I remember thinking 'this is how a strawberry should taste!'

Hopefully my strawberries will pack that same punch.