The first summer garden berry in many areas is Kimberly Strawberry. It is very rich in vitamin C, folic acid. The infusion of these berries has an antiseptic, diaphoretic and diuretic effect on the human body. Garden strawberries, Kimberly strawberries in particular, are palatable and have a mouth-watering appearance. Perhaps that is why it is popular both among gardeners, and among fans to feast on it.
Kimberly Strawberry: Feature
Garden strawberries belong to the early varieties. It was bred for the first time in Holland by crossing two varieties: Gorella and Chandler. Bushes are compact, squat, but very strong and powerful. The leaves are small, rounded in shape with an oily sheen and a light green tint. Inflorescences consist of 5-6 beautiful flowers. Mustaches are few, but they must be cut off for good fruiting.
Kimberly strawberries (description of the variety is impossible without mentioning the large cone-shaped berries of bright red color with luster) is resistant to fungal diseases, frost and powdery mildew. Berries have a weight of up to 50 grams, caramel flavor, pleasant refreshing aroma.
Kimberly Strawberry Propagation
To collect good crops of this berry, you need to update the garden on which it grows, every four years. Kimberly Strawberry, whose variety description helps you easily distinguish it from other species, propagates with the help of seeds and mustaches. Propagation of strawberries with a mustache is carried out in two ways:
- As soon as the first outlet begins to form, press it to the ground with a hairpin, so it will take root better. Remember, the most suitable for reproduction are the first and second outlets. The subsequent ones will take root poorly or even die. Harvest with them is much worse.
- Place the emerging outlet in a pot of earth, without separating it from the bush. In this case, when you plant seedlings on a bed, its root system will suffer less. Just make sure that the soil in the cup does not dry out.
Kimberly cultivated strawberries and seeds are propagated . To do this, sow them in March-April. Lower the seeds into a light, not very fertile soil. You can mix garden soil with sand. Take a plastic container, make a hole in the bottom. Fill it with earth and shake. If the soil is dry, do not water it, but moisten it with drops from your hands. Spread the seeds evenly over the surface. Do not fall asleep!
Fill the prepared containers to the top with snow, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for two weeks. The snow will melt gradually. This procedure is called stratification. After wintering, place containers with seeds on a cold windowsill, do not remove the film.
Make sure there is a lot of light, and do not water. If the soil is very dry, spray a little. As soon as the shoots appear, make small holes in the film, so the seedlings will gradually get used to the environment. Thin sprouts. When two or three leaves appear, dive the seedlings. Before planting on the bed, control the soil moisture.
How to plant strawberries
Kimberly strawberries begin to be planted in spring and autumn. Before doing this, remove all weeds and loosen the ground. To get a good crop, you need to plant the berry on a flat surface of the soil with a south-western slope. Please note that Kimberly strawberry, reviews of which indicate its high productivity, does not like cold, so cover it with fir branches with the first frosts. So the snow cover will last longer, and the berry will not freeze.
Transplanting seedlings to a permanent place is necessary when 3-5 leaves appear at the outlet. Kimberly strawberries require preliminary preparation of the garden (planting and care should be from July to September inclusive). When digging the beds, add humus in the amount of 5-10 kg per 1 m 2 . Well, where you will plant seedlings, spill well with water. To prevent moisture from evaporating, cut off all the leaves. Leave the central leaf on the stem with roots, which in this case will develop better and form a powerful root system.
Plant seedlings at a distance of 70-90 cm between the bushes, otherwise the stems will stretch up, and the fruits will be smaller. Do not bury the heart of the outlet in the soil or lift it high. It should be flush with the ground.
For better survival of seedlings, cover the bed for several days with plywood or burlap from the sun. This will help prevent moisture from evaporating.
Kimberly Strawberry Nutrition
The main fertilizer for berries is vegetable or dung humus. Strawberries (Kimberly variety) also need additional nutrition for good growth and harvest. Reviews gardeners contain such recommendations:
- The first top dressing with a complex fertilizer with microelements should be carried out in the spring, as soon as the snow melts. Water a young bush with 1-2 liters of water, an adult - 2-5 liters.
- The second top dressing is carried out during the formation of peduncles. Dilute 1: 6 mullein and 1: 2 bird droppings with water. Add ½ tbsp. To a bucket of such a mixture. wood ash and ferment this solution for a week.
- The third time, with the same solution, fertilize the berry already during flowering.
- The fourth dressing is carried out in mid-August, during the laying of flower buds of the crop for next year. Water with this solution: for 10 liters of water ½ tbsp. ash and 50 grams of superphosphate.
Before each dressing for 30-40 minutes, you need to pour strawberries under the root. Remember: leaves and hearts cannot be wetted.
When you need to water garden strawberries
Kimberly strawberries, the description of the variety of which includes information about its irrigation, is very demanding on soil moisture. Watering the berry is necessary when the ground at a depth of 20-30 cm is dry and crumbles in the hands. Waterlogging is bad for strawberries. Follow the measure.
When the bushes grow, water in 7-10 days. During fruit ripening - in five days. The intervals between irrigation can be adjusted by nature itself. Adjust to her whims.
Kimberly Strawberry. Fruiting
From late May to early June, Kimberly begins to bear fruit. Grade description testifies that it is very popular because of early ripening of fruits. Subject to the periodicity of irrigation, with proper feeding, you can expect a rich harvest. But he will fall sharply if you do not remove the mustache on the fruiting bushes.
Without moving strawberries, you can grow no more than three years, not counting the year of planting in a permanent place. The fact is that the berries on the old bushes are smaller, the yield is reduced, the plants suffer from various diseases. Plant them from the second year of fruiting.
And another thing: the strawberry Kimberly, reviews of which speak of it as an unpretentious berry, may come into contact with the ground with gray rot. To prevent this, tie the brushes to the pegs or substitute supports for them.
Kimberly Strawberry: Care
If you have well prepared the garden, grown healthy seedlings and planted the bushes correctly, then the next year, wait for the first harvest. Kimberly strawberry, the description of which will be incomplete, not to mention caring for it, is an unpretentious plant. But he loves water, so regular watering is mandatory: during the growth of leaves, before flowering, during the formation of fruits.
Regularly watering strawberries, you water and weeds. To spend less time fighting them, mulch. To do this, use straw, sawdust. Well-sheltered soil between the rows will not dry out, there will be less weeds, and the berries will be clean. Proper and regular care will increase the productivity of Kimberley strawberries.
How to protect the berry from diseases and pests?
As soon as you notice some signs of seedling damage by pests, collect it in heaps of 20-30 pieces. Tightly, closer to the roots, tie and lower to the very roots in water, heated to 45 ° C. Hold for 15 minutes, then rinse in cold water and plant in the ground.
Within ten days, new leaflets will appear. This was the primary disinfection. Regularly, every ten days, reinforce it by spraying strawberry bushes with infusion of dandelion leaves. It is prepared as follows: a bucket of water heated to 40 ° C, and 500 grams of fresh dandelion leaves are infused for 2-4 hours, then filtered.
To prevent the appearance of gray rot on the berries, spray the bushes with a solution of iodine 1:10. In case of severe infection, treat the plants with filtered infusion of garlic in a proportion of 10 liters of water per 100 grams of dry leaves. The prepared solution is insisted day.
Strawberry Wim Kimberly
Curled leaves are a sign of the variety of garden strawberries Wim Kimberly. Fruits early - at the end of May. The berry is resistant to low temperatures and powdery mildew damage. Planting seedlings produced in the spring, in April. Vima loves fertile land with the addition of peat, humus. Plant the berries in rows at a distance of 60 cm between them in sunny places. To prevent weeds from clogging strawberries and retaining moisture in the soil, mulch the plantings with sawdust, straw, peat.
The berries of this strawberry variety are very tasty, healthy and fragrant. They contain a lot of natural sugar. Use strawberries fresh and canned. To enhance the aroma between the bushes, lay needles.
Many amateur gardeners note that the strawberries of Wim Kimberly, the reviews of which are the most positive, belong to the category of wonderful berries. It pleases with high productivity and is distinguished by excellent taste.