Battleangel

A kind of new thing this year that I forgot to mention. Looks kind of easy on paper but in reality it’s a tricky plant to grow successfully. This marks the end of year one for the first crop this time around.

Yield was pretty average for a first year crop, about 20 L for the entire field. Originally 80 units planted in two rows, very densely. Too densely perhaps. Some did not survive the last winter, which by all accounts was quite uneven. And stolons (base offsets) were allowed to develop, that also detracts some from the optimal harvest. That will all be remedied next time around.
Another thing that I will be sure to do is apply mulch, not just for the winter, but also add a fresh layer just after the fruit starts to develop. Makes weeding all the more easy, and prevents leaves and fruit from mold and certain bugs.

Anyway, the major thing left to do now is to make use of the stolons, pot them and care for them until they can be severed from the mother plant. Also a quite time consuming business.

Also. Been planning ahead to circumvent future nematode infestations. I’ve heard rumours that mixing strawberry fields with the genus Tagetes (”Marigolds”) alleviates that constant scourge.

Hopefully this will be the first of many new things that will completely reshape the garden.