4 ways to grow

Strawberries in troughs

If you want to get an impressive crop of strawberries, then troughs are my recommendation. Yes, the roots are restricted, but the generous volume of compost allows plants to make decent root growth, which leads to high volumes of fruit. I planted one-year-old bare-root runners and found that five per metre-long trough is ample – any more would cause overcrowding.

Being movable, troughs can be taken under cover in poor weather (such as gales or late frosts) and, if space in your greenhouse allows, you can even force an early crop. Troughs can also be elevated to waist height for effortless harvesting. This makes bird control and pest monitoring easier too. Soil diseases (such as verticillium wilt) can be avoided and as the fruits dangle over the side