Strawberry companion planting dilemma
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Fruit | 12 comments
Photo: Strawberry plants
I love the idea of companion planting and really want to get the best out of my strawberries this year. Most companion planting charts state that strawberries hate potatoes and cabbages. A lot of charts declare that onions and strawberries are incompatible and a few declare that they are friends.
I have a patch of alliums (Christophii) in one of my fruit cages – left over from the days when it was a herbaceous border. So when I discovered that strawberries this incompatibility on the companion planting charts I whistled down the garden to inspect the state of the plants. Strawberries have never done well in this border.
Initially the row of strawberries growing right next to the alliums were looking much healthier than their puny siblings further away. These are the Albion strawberry plants that I bought in November. But just a few days later they are looking wan and the others have perked up. Perhaps the alliums are smelling stronger?
I’ve discovered that strawberries also like acid soil ours is very alkaline so have topped dressed with chicken poo and pine needles from the Christmas tree and will be dosing them with cold tea.
The borage that I sowed in the Spring has been hardened off and is now ready to join the strawberries. Everyone declares that borage and strawberries are best friends.
The strawberries in the other fruit cage look great – they had the chicken poo treatment in the Autumn.
So is it a soil problem or a companion planting problem? Or both? The deeper that I research makes me more aware of how little I know.
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Admittedly I’ve given up on growing commercial cultivars here – purely because over the summer our hedgerows are stuffed with sweet wild strawberries – miniscule fruits which are packed with such a punch of fruity flavour they are so much more of a delight than their larger, more watery & insipid cousins.
They do really well when packed into hedgerows, nestled alongside wild blueberries (also known as bilberries/blaeberries/whinberries); dog violets, wood sorrel, wild primrose, Jack-by-the-Hedge; & campion. All I do is make sure that absolutely NO chemicals go anywhere near them; & that the beehives are appropriately positioned to take full advantage of this nectifarious bounty!
Incidentally Magic Cochin has a good point regarding straw (hence the name, strawberry) – placing the young fruits on a bed of straw reduces the risk of blights/mildews/moulds otherwise caused by direct contact with the soil. In my student days I worked as an overseer on a fruit farm – amazing what you learn!
If you get a chance next year, do get hold of some Aromel strawberry plants – by far the finest-tasting fruits you’ll ever have the pleasure – nay joy, to taste. Exactly the same flavour as wild alpine strawberries but encased in a bigger berry…veritable soft fruit heaven.
Just a cautionary note regarding borage: it’s lovely stuff & especially wonderful for bees; but do be careful when handling it (always wear gloves)- & please be aware that it can run rampant throughout your garden & impinge on other crops unless carefully managed.
But DO get those gorgeous Aromel plants…!!!
Hi SallyC
Your comment made me roar with laughter. Thanks!
Now there’s a comment we office workers don’t get to hear everyday … “have topped dressed with chicken poo and pine needles from the Christmas tree and will be dosing them with cold tea”. May try the same thing on our staff and see if there’s any improvement!
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for explaining the tea – I dont have pine needles available but the kettles on right now!!!
Hello Joanna
Thanks for the sound advice!
Hi Judy
We can get pelleted chicken poo over here but I haven’t seen rabbit poo. The pine needles I’ve got so I’ll definitely use them. Thanks.
Hi Celia
Isn’t it great to have a use for the pine needles!
As more companion planting charts state that alliums and strawberries dislike each other, I’m going to remove the Christophii.
I think your point about bedding in is a good one. The runners in the other cage that I planted in October still look a bit straggly too. It’s the parents that look great.
Hi Ellen
I didn’t know that chicken poo is alkaline. I’ve read that applying manure to an alkaline soil reduces the Ph so assumed that all manure would do this!
The borage is going in today.
Just wondering – Why the cold tea? I’ve planted 60 strawberry plants this year and I’m keen to make sure they do well but I’d not heard of using cold tea before.
Hi Abb
Cold tea and or tea leaves increase the soil acidity. Strawberries and raspberries both like a slightly acid soil and ours is alkaline. The pine needles also do the same.
I thought chicken poo was alkaline, not acidic, so if strawberries like acid soil, I’d hold back on the manure.
I heard the secret to a good crop of strawberries is watering really well at the end of the season, when all the fruits are gone. We also grew borage close by last year and they did really well, so it’s good to know that that is recommended!
I was going to buy a bag of straw to mulch the stawberries – as I usually do. After reading this and Judy’s comment, I think I’ll try pine needles as we have lots that need clearing up!
As for the companion planting – who knows? I often let borage self seed around the strawberries – it looks pretty and attracts bees to pollinate.
Could the problem just be a transplanting thing? Plants often take ages to bed in, and it’s been cold and dry which hasn’t helped.
Celia
The best strawberries I ever saw were in a friend’s garden. She “mulched” with rabbit poo – pelleted, non-burning. This was topped with pine needles that kept strawberries clean and off the rabbit dung. Pine needles also quick draining so strawberries stay dry and do noy mold.
I think you can tie yourself up in knots working out the best way forward. The best way is to experiment a little and see what works best in your own plot because that is going to be different to anywhere else in the world. It’s almost like parenting, listen to lots of advice and then go ahead and do your own thing.