The taste and aroma of strawberries ... Nothing compares to a pair of domestic, grown on their own site of berries, which are so nice to tear off and feast on them during the season. Oh, what a pity that this pleasure is deprived many residents of apartment buildings of large megacities or simply those who do not even have the cherished "sotochki" of land to plant such a tasty and useful plant. However, it is not necessary to be upset, it turns out that the strawberry can turn into strawberry "homemade", "balcony" or "window sill" and delight you with magnificent flowering and rubies of ripe berries.
To begin with, you want to dip the reader into the history of the occurrence of the usual strawberry garden, which is often, alas, wrong, called strawberries. The strawberry is known to man and cultivated in culture for more than three centuries, but at the beginning of its domestication, it did not use much demand, as it was no different from the one that grew in nature ... Only in the middle of the 17th century, the first large-plant strawberry plants , which were selected in the state of Virginia, however how large was the size of the berries so insipid was the taste. But the years were flying and the historical moment was approaching, from Chile, full-bodied, tasty and sweet strawberries were already sailing to Europe in full sails in the strong palms of the French officer, but alas, the joy was short-lived, all the plants brought were purely feminine, luxuriantly blossomed but without male pollen did not tie fruit. The officer was upset, he decided to give all the plants to the local botanist Dyushez, who gladly accepted them and planted them in the Versailles Garden in a collection of strawberries, literally next to the strawberry strawberry and a miracle, the pollen of a distant relative of Chilean strawberries turned out to be fruitful, and the berries so large and delicious that for more than two centuries, please us at the very beginning of the hot summer.
But we will return to reality, we do not have land, but there is a magnificent window sill, so pure and snow-white, it will be great if some good strawberry garden variety blossoms on it and gives fruit. Now the variety of these varieties is great and there is no need to sow the seeds, enough just go to the market and choose any one you like.
So, the cherished variety is in our hands, but what to do next, because how to simply land it in the ground taken from any site, but do not rush, it is better to prepare the substrate yourself. Ideally, the soil in which our homemade strawberry grows should consist of some nutrients, fine if it is peat and turf land, but the baking powder is made by river sand. Often you can hear that strawberries can be grown in peat alone, alas it is not so, peat is nutritious, but it is devoid of mineral elements, and this in its turn will only affect growth only negatively.
Picking up the substrate and planting our bush, we proceed to caring for it, which in the first place? Of course, watering, they should not be rare, water should be at least three times a week, but you can not pour plants - half a glass of water is a daily rate. It's great if from time to time watering you will combine with the introduction of some complex mineral fertilizers. Their consumption should not be large, a standard ten-liter bucket of water requires no more than 30 grams of ammonium nitrate, not more than 150 grams of superphosphate and slightly less than 50 g of potassium sulphate.
Periodically, plants should remove the mustache, well, and most importantly it is the observance of the rest period. Period of rest is necessary, at this time there is a bookmark of flowering buds, from them the fruits will appear. To the plants realized that it is time to sleep the temperature in the room it is necessary to lower the degrees to 12-15, try to provide short-term lighting (short day). The optimal period for preparing strawberries for hibernation is September, and this time lasts not less than a month, and in the middle of this period the temperature is again lowered bringing to 5-6 degrees above zero. Of course, somebody will sacrifice their health and the month will freeze in anticipation of the "awakening" of strawberries, the bushes simply need to be placed in a cool place, in this case the ideal basements are glazed balconies or glazed balconies.
Closer to the spring, around the end of February, the plants can be extracted from the cool "bedrooms" and put in place of their permanent residence. They are still drowsy, sluggish and weak, so all care should be extremely accurate, even watering is best done with water at room temperature. When the first peduncles appear, the plant should be encouraged, for this, any growth stimulant can be added to the irrigation water, perfectly safe gibberellin is ideal. During flowering the main thing is not to forget about pollination, there is no wind or bees on it for them to work for you - to put on a glove and touch the tip of each finger to each flower.
Finally, a little advice - during flowering, the ripening of berries, often air the room, fresh air has not harmed anyone, it increases the growth of pollen on the stigma of the pistil and enhances the aroma of ripening berries.
