FruitandNutCake Posted May 27, 2008 Share Posted May 27, 2008 Hi, I have a 12ft by 12ft strawberry bed, that is just starting to crop. I have a mixture of strawberries to extend the cropping time, but I expect to have many months where the area will be "dormant" till next year. Also it will look rather dull most of the year. Does anyone have any ideas what I can plant in between the strawberry plants that won't take too much energy from the dormant strawberry plants - either flowers for cutting or crops? something "jungly" looking would be great, as the patch ended up in the middle of the kids jungle garden as it was the sunniest spot! Another idea I had was to plant say pumpkins around the edge or the patch and trail the plants through the strawberries - would this work? That way the pumpkins would be resting on the straw. Any ideas greatly appreciated. As an after thought, would sweetcorn work? Or do they grow too big to go in between strawberry plants? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted May 28, 2008 Share Posted May 28, 2008 Sweetcorn and pumpkins would both look really good. Pumpkins take up alot more space in the ground than sweetcorn though. You could be really cheeky and put a few pumpkins around the edge and a few sweetcor plants down the rows of strawberries. Both of my pumpkin and sweetcorn seeds are just starting to grow, and our local homebase had loads of half price aweetcorn plants last week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missuscluck Posted May 28, 2008 Share Posted May 28, 2008 What about leeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FruitandNutCake Posted June 1, 2008 Author Share Posted June 1, 2008 Thanks. It's only me that eats leeks occasionally - kids won't touch them! But they would probably enjoy sweetcorn and pumpkin. I'm going to build a more permanant frame around the strawberries at some point - as the 3 ft high fine mesh is a pain to get through (no doorwy!) Though the birds managed to get under it the first day! and I think mice are getting to my strawberries (only about one a day at the moment - so not a big loss!) As soon as the strawberries are finished. I'll take the netting down and start building something easier to get into, and prettier looking! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 My companion planting book says to plant spinach and strawberries together. I have done this for 2 years now and both do really well. If you give it some protection in the winter it will be fine all year. (the chickens love it too ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
