***Strawberry "FRESCA"*** Garden strawberries are hybrid herbaceous perennials grown for their sweet, aromatic red fruit. 'Fresca' is a seed-grown, runnerless, everbearing cultivar which produces flavorful, medium-sized fruit from early summer until fall (with a pause during hot weather). Like most garden strawberries, it has attractive, toothed, three-lobed leaves. 'Fresca' likes ample sun and fertile, moist, well-drained soil. Start it indoors in winter for early first-season bloom. It is a good choice for culinary gardens, containers, or "strawberry towers". Prepare the site: Strawberries do not like wet roots, preferring a well-drained site with a preferably slightly acid, medium loam. They tolerate shade but thrive in sunshine. Avoid frost pockets and protect the early flowers overnight, with horticultural fleece. To avoid disease build-up, grow strawberries in a different plot every three years. Add lots of well-rotted manure, turning it in well so the roots do not actually touch the manure and add Growmore in the Spring. Sowing: Sow in Autumn or Spring at a maximum of 5°C (41°F), using a well drained compost. Plant out in spring or in early autumn. If in spring, de-blossom the plants in the first season to enable their roots to establish. Crowns should be at soil level, 40cm (16in) apart in the row with 1m (3ft) between the rows. Many gardeners grow strawberries through black polythene to keep the fruit off the soil. This also suppresses weeds, conserves water and stops soil splashing on the fruit. Otherwise, tuck straw or stones under the developing trusses. Tending: When watering, do not wet the fruits, as they will develop botrytis, so use a watering can, and gently water near the crowns. Do not use a hosepipe, as it will spray the fruits, and disease will follow. Plants should be mulched in the winter
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