SunLive Competition

Sweet, juicy summer berries are hard to match for taste and flavour.

The joys of picking your own fruit far outweigh the small amount of effort required to produce handfuls of fresh, delicious berries. Spring is the perfect time to plant berries for summer harvest.

To get the best berries, start with the right ingredients. Select only healthy strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry and boysenberry plants from the garden centre.

Don’t be tempted to dig up strawberry runners you may find in a friend’s gardens. These may grow, but chances are they won’t produce a bumper crop because berries from older runners tend to have less flavour, vigour and growth. It’s best to buy new plants every two years.

Whatever berries you choose to grow, plant them in a pot, planter or garden. If space is tight use Haxnicks, berry planters or hanging baskets for strawberries and cranberries. Wine barrels are a good option for combination berry plantings. Try planting a thornless blackberry in the centre, then three blueberries around that and edge with strawberries for a tasty berry combo.
Whether you are planting in the ground or in pots, you need to plant your new season’s berries into Tui Strawberry Mix as this has all the goodies that berries require to flourish. It provides the perfect base for roots to quickly establish themselves and enjoy sustained growth throughout the season. The high level of potassium incorporated into the mix is important too berries need this nutrient to produce tasty fruit.
The only pre-requisite for berries is that they need to be planted in a sunny position, as no sun means no flavour. Taller berries require support from the wind as they grow. Strawberries need to be mulched with Pelletised Pea Straw to keep fruit off the soil and stop rot.

When your plants start fruiting, cover with netting or Haxnicks Net Tunnels to keep birds off. Apply strawberry food once a month to all berries and water your plants regularly throughout summer.

To prevent soil or potting mix drying out, apply Saturaid around plants. This promotes even water distribution and helps with moisture retention.
Harvest once berries are bright red and look ripe, as they tend not to ripen once picked. Remove any blemishes with a soft cloth and avoid washing with water as it can bruise the delicate fruit. Serve at room temperature - cold berries straight from the fridge have less flavour.

A bumper berry crop for the kids:

Growing strawberries is a great way to interest children in gardening. If space is limited, a pot with a few berries in it will still make them happy. The Tui NZ Kids Garden is a great book that will help maintain and develop a young gardener’s enthusiasm and skills.

• Sit them down and show them the Tui Time Get Berried video at www.tuitime.co.nz  This short, informative video shows you how easy it is to get started growing berries. Chances are you may learn a thing or two yourself. While the kids are on this website, they may want to enter the competition to win a strawberry-growing pack.  
• Next, give the children a garden spot of their own or a pot or planter that they can decorate and plant with berries.  Encourage them to make scarecrows or hang up strings of old CDs to deter birds.
  An effective trick to deter birds from eating the strawberries is to paint some stones red and place them around the plants. The birds think these are berries, try eating them and become upset and do an angry ‘bird dance’ which children love to watch. These painted stones usually deter birds from returning to the berry patch.
• Whatever you do to get kids gardening will be as rewarding for you as it is for them. It is important that gardeners of the future know where their food comes from and get started on the growing your own path sooner rather than later. 

Win: Go in the draw to win a strawberry growing kit valued at $65, featuring Tui Strawberry Mix, a Haxnicks Strawberry/Herb Planter and 2.5 litres of Saturaid with SunLive. To enter, you must be logged in, if you are new click here to register for free!

Competition Results

Merryn Tate
Tauranga