Focus on… Perpetual strawberries

WE’RE all familiar with the summer strawberry, which gives rise to punnets of deliciously red fruits in June and July, but are you aware of their relatives? If I said that they’d help you extend that mouthwatering fresh berry harvest into August, September and beyond, surely you’d want to know more? Well, welcome to the world of perpetual strawberries.

Keep those fruits coming

Also known as everbearers, perpetual strawberries are a godsend. While conventional summer-fruiting varieties are genetically geared up to flower and fruit in late spring, perpetual types are triggered (via changes in day length) to produce their main crop in autumn. So, by planting summer and everbearing varieties together, you’ll gain fresh fruits from June right through until October.

“Extend that mouthwatering berry harvest”

Perpetuals don’t produce as many runners as summer varieties, because they’re using their resources to produce a harvest instead. Propagation is therefore via