How to ripen strawberries

When growing strawberries you are watching them everyday to see when they ripen. Sometimes you may pick them early before the birds can eat them but you should not do this! Here we will tell you how to ripen Strawberries.

The main reason why you should not pick Strawberries before they are ripe is because they will not continue ripening once you pick them they need to be at there best on the plant when you pick them. This is when the Strawberries will be at the juiciest.

One way to help ripen strawberries is if you look at them they will ripen on the top of the strawberry, once the top is ripe just gently turn the strawberry round so the white side is now on top – do this without snapping the stem of the plant.

Make sure that you keep the strawberries protected from the birds at all times as they love to eat the red tasty strawberries. Each morning check your patch for slugs as well because you will not want them leaving holes in the fruit.

Your strawberries should start to turn red and ripen around 4-5 weeks once the flowers have opened. When the first couple have ripened you will start to be getting handfuls of strawberries every day from your plants. Make sure you have plenty of plants so that you get a constant supply of strawberries for a few weeks. Once they have fruited though you will not get another batch unfortunately.

As the strawberries are growing they will need watering more regular so that it helps them swell and plump up. Make sure that you water the Strawberries early in the morning and late at the evening as you don’t want them sat in water for to long when the sun is out or it will rot them.

You can never have enough strawberries in your garden, i’m sure you will agree with that statement. You certainly will not be sharing these with your friends and family.

Allotment and Kitchen Garden Book

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You can check out all the allotment and kitchen garden books we recommend here.

You can find more gardening tips and advice here