While there has been much talk of the wait for a man to follow in Fred Perry’s footsteps a slightly shorter wait has led to success in the allotment.  We planted up a strawberry bed in the autumn of 2011 and the young plants and the foul summer of 2012 meant a minimal harvest last year.

However, a decent summer and bit of love and care over the past 12 months (trimming off runners, clearing dead foliage and thinning out the bed where stray runners had started to root) has led to a bumper crop this year.  The photos below show how the bed has developed this year.

2 April 2013

27 May 2013

Strawberry jam is a household favourite, but fresh strawberries are even higher up our hit parade, so to have enough strawberries to be making a few pounds of jam means that we really do have a lot.

So, congratulations Andy Murray but for those who’d prefer to wait for 18 months or so, get your strawberries in this autumn.