It’s been about three/four months since we embarked on a brave an noble garden quest; to plant, grow and feast on alpine strawberries. Back in Part One, we planted three small alpine strawberry shrubs and a few seeds were sprinkled over various pots before being put around my garden. Since then, I have watered and fertilized regularly and kept a close eye over my tiny strawberry friends. Today, I thought I’d update you on how we’re going because it’s been quite a journey.

Potted Up a Disaster:
It is with a heavy heart and a quizzical expression that I must start by telling you that none of the seeds so much as thought about sprouting.
Both pots, one in a partially sunny spot and one in a full sun position, and the seeds planted straight into the garden all failed to germinate.
I’m a little miffed as to what happened but I have a few theories: the seeds could have been bad quality (they were purchased from The Reject Shop), the sprinkler could have been too harsh and washed them away, or something else went wrong. It may be worth noting that one pot containing seeds was tipped over by a friends toddler which was more funny than anything but more seeds were replanted after this incident also to no avail.
There is a sense of disappointment that nothing grew from seed. I think next time I will germinate them at home if I can before planting them out if I can. Alas, despite sprouting nothing from seed, I’m glad we weren’t left completely empty handed.

Shrubs of Snacks
Back in part one we planted three alpine strawberry shrubs in various locations about my garden. We have had interesting results. For the most part, every shrub yielded fruit and presented me with a decent handful harvest over the course of a few months. As summer really started to roll in, the sun became quite a fierce issue so white mesh picnic tents were put over the shrubs to try and minimize the sun damage. This worked to some extent for one plant, not so much for another (which ended up with two such protective mesh domes but still got cooked) and one bush that ended up being behind a home made shade screen. The sun was brutal this summer guys! Everything was cooked against their wills and so much turned brown and crispy after even just two 40 degree celcius plus days in a row. There were many casualties due to this intense heat.
The shrub that was getting attacked by the sun was mostly cooked by mid-Jan. My current plan is to dig it up and plant it somewhere sheltered in the hopes it’ll come back next year. Another shrub that survived for the most part has also started to show signs that it’s just slowly getting cooked so I will also move that within the next week or so. The third shrub originally had it’s little picnic dome of protection but I ended up building a little shade screen out of some old curtains to protect my raspberries which meant that my strawberries were also protected. This bush survived the best but it is being bullied by some coriander I plan to remove soon. This shrub will stay where it is and hopefully it’ll be back next season as it produced the most fruit.

Despite having no luck with growing alpine strawberries from seed, I am so glad I had the little shrubs to fall back on. I had many an afternoon snack with my alpine strawberries and they tasted absolutely delicious. Some I just ate straight off the tree, others were stirred into yoghurt. The very nostalgic flavour of alpine strawberries was such a wonderful experience and it reminded me of when I was much younger. Next year I’m hoping to get some more shrubs and seeds and see if we can try again.
I am still so pleased with the efforts of these little strawberry bushes. They brought me so much joy and many a delicious quick snack. I have shared some cute garden hauls with you all here.

It is tempting to try growing again once it’s time. This year, I hope to germinate the seeds indoors much earlier than this time, and hopefully we will get something to grow. I will also keep an eye out at gardening shops to try and snag a few alpine strawberry plants once they come back into stock. This was truly a wonderful experiment and although it was challenging, it was so much fun to check on my little shrubs every other day and hunt for delicious treasures. See you in the garden again soon!

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