This year has been superb for strawberries. I’ve been picking large, super sweet fruits in great volumes at the allotment and giving away punnets to friends and neighbours to avoid waste. After doing a bit of research into the reasons why strawberries are so good this year, it seems the cool spring almost certainly played a part. Plants flowered later and had longer to put down roots. Because of a lack of sunshine up until now there was a longer gap between flowering and picking, fruit stayed on the plants for a longer period of time, absorbing extra nutrients, resulting in big, juicy and sweet fruits.
I have plenty of fruit to make jam, so that should keep me busy this week!
The Garden Smallholder 
You might think about halving one of the strawberries and putting it into a glass of water/lemonade or wine. It adds a delicious flavour.
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Wow they look divine!!! the color of a happy garden :) make some ice-cream too…on my behalf :) Fozziemum
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Amazing! I would eat them just as they are. :)
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I love fresh strawberries, so much better than supermarket ones. To avoid wastage, maybe you could make jam.
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I love eating them as they are too. Plenty to make jam with and eat as I make jam!
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Defo making jam!
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Our strawberries are so fragrant this year, more than I can ever remember – my garden smells amazing!
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I’ll be picking mine very soon :-) With my digestion quite f****d due to disability, I have to be wary of raw fruit but I’ll eat a very few fresh strawbs. The rest, I’ll freeze. Yes I know that’s chef-sacrilege, but they come out just fine as a compote to eat with yogurt or ice cream.
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It sure has, and hope that the raspberries will be as good as I prefer them! xx
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More strawberries here in Brittany also. Beautiful and delicious like yours ! I made strawberry compote and put it in the freezer for winter dessert like panacota etc…
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I have strawberry envy. They look wonderful. The season is just starting over here in Brisbane. We had an absolutely bumper crop last year and I am still eating the jam I made at the time. I have the preserving pan and empty jars all ready. Just waiting for the fruit. I have a tiny allotment so don’t have the space for a strawberry bed, but we have a wonderful farmers market here and when the berries are in season you can buy a tray straight from the farmers. Wonderful.
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What an incredible picture! I feel as though I could pick a handful straight off the screen – wishful thinking!! So sorry about your sad news recently – hopefully a glut of beautiful strawberries has helped cheer you up a little! Thinking of you and your flock. x
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I have abundance but not quality. Loads of tiny strawberries, even from older more established plants. I picked 2 kg in the first picking and have made jam with them, the rest I’ll give the green light to the kids! They’re desperate to pick strawberries but are really good, waiting for me to say it’s okay. (Just hope they leave the raspberries for me, though!! ) I’ve also pruned off older, larger leaves and the runners so I hope that will encourage more fruit. What varieties do you grow, Karen?
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Hi Caro, I wish I knew which variety my strawbs are now! I took lots of runners from my dad, who got his plants from a film company in London. All I know is they’re very tasty, large fruits with excellent foliage too. If you’d like some runners I’d happily post you some, let me know x
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