Hobbies / Books   (Gardening, walking, books, films, theatre etc.)

It was traditional to place straw under the berries to keep them off the ground, as ground contact tends to make them rot.

However, I live in a City, so straw not easily obtainable, and these days, not cheap. It also acts as a refuge to harbour slugs, which can devastate the strawberry crop.

You can buy strawberry mats. It is much cheaper to buy your strawberries from the shop than embark upon that course.

Last couple of years, tried using plastic Picnic forks to support the fruit away from ground, but they frequently caused stem to break, and the fruit to rot anyway, so another failure.

This year, trying some DIY strawberry mats cut from those waxed card party plates.

Just have to keep experimenting