MY FIRST STRAWBERRY BLOOMS HAVE ARRIVED

Well, last evening after enjoying a coffee on the balcony, I realized I had been staring at strawberry blossoms for at least half an hour n didn't even register what I was looking at...lol  YEA !!!  my 1st blooms of the season have emerged, here's to hoping some well pollinated berries are to follow. I generally hand pollinate my strawberries to ensure a consistently ripe berry, however these blooms are on the very top row of the shoebag n I don't really feel like climbing up there with my make-up brush. However in the interest of yummy berries perhaps I will make the climb.

ok you may be asking yourself "hand polinate " why ???? since strawberries are mostly self pollinating, and just a little breeze will do the job most times. Have you ever had a strawberry (either commercial or home-grown) that was only half ripe, with all these little hard nubby thingies that get stuck in your teeth n just make the berry appear only half ripe n ready to eat ? Well I was taught that this is from improper or inconsistent pollinating, the hard nubby bits of the berry are the bits that DID NOT get sufficient pollen exchange. Well I am no expert but it made sense to me, so ever since I have been hand pollinating my strawberries and I must say it does seem to make a difference to the overall quality of the berry.

Here are some pics I snapped last evening of the new strawberry blooms, and wouldn't you just know the 1st blossoms to appear are at the very top row of the grow bag...lol story of my life....just gotta climb another hurdle...so today I guess I will be climbing up to pollinate the new arrivals...

The procedure is simple, using a clean q-tip or a clean soft new make-up brush simply rub the pollen off the stamens onto the new forming berry in the centre of the bloom, making sure to completely coat as much of the berry nub as possible....n that's it.... every berry develops, and no hard nubby bits....