Protecting strawberry plants.

[Emile]

Two years ago I decided to grow strawberries again. So I put out four rounds beds and bought expensive June strawberry 🍓 plants. The plants never made it, thanks to squirrels. They not only ate the berries, they also ate the plants. My neighbor gave me some chicken wire and I went out and bought a flat of Sure Crop June plants. NJCher suggested I spray garlic spray around the edge of the chicken wire as a repellent. So far it seems to be working.




Surecrop June bearing Strawberry Plants are a favorite of Southern home gardeners because they can produce good crops in almost any soil type, including poor soils. They are widely adapted in zones 6-8 and are disease and drought resistant. The Surecrop Strawberry grows medium to large size fruit that is firm, glossy, and deep rich red. It has an excellent, slightly tart flavor that is good for desserts and freezing.

[NJCher]

1. I'm so glad

I chanced into a quart of organic strawberries at the Farmer's Market before I read this thread.

I see you already have strawberries that are ripe. I would be craving some!

These days when I plant, the last step is building the protection. I'm so tired of disappointment when the groundhog gets my stuff. In fact, when I plant, I have the protection in mind and the materials go out to the garden with me.

I think there's something to early plant protection. It sorta' trains them that there's nothing here for them. I also brush my cat Ollie every morning. He loves it and I get big balls for orange fur to spread around the garden.

Oh, that reminds me, whenever I go in for a hair cut, I call ahead and ask the stylist to save everybody's clippings for me. I take home a nice-sized bag of hair that I spread around. The scent throws deer off. Makes them nervous.
I never let up on the protection. I spray every Monday with Repel-It and envision ways they might be able to get at my plants.

Another thing I do is put tack straw around my plant and shade it for a full three days so it gets its root system acclimated. That also hides a new planting from the deer, groundhogs, etc.

Thanks for the pics!