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Roxbury Farm Food
StrawberriesJean Paul writes:
As promised, I will feature one crop each week.Strawberry production usually peaks this time of year.However, this year, every crop is at least a week and a half behind it’s normal growing schedule.One of the crops that illustrates this from the roadside is the field corn that is only a couple of inches tall instead of it’s usual one to two feet.
 There are three main concerns when it comes to having a successful strawberry crop: weeds, diseases, and fertility.For these reasons, the preparation of strawberries starts three years before harvest.In Year 1, the land is planted in clover as soon as we can work the ground.Clover lives in symbiosis with beneficial myccorhiza which help fix nitrogen out of the air.Contrary to popular belief, strawberries need a lot of fertility.The clover is key in helping to build up fertility.
In Year 2, we spade the clover in and bare fallow the land over the month of July.The bare fallow is introduced to eliminate the weeds that otherwise will smother out the young strawberry plants the following year.At the beginning of August, we plant oats and peas that are winterkilled by next spring.
In Year 3, we spread 20 yards of compost to the acre.In addition to compost bringing nutrients to the soil, it has disease suppressant qualities.Then we spade in the remains of the oats and peas with the compost and we are ready to plant.We use disease-free plants that are grown at Nourse Nursery in Massachusetts.So far, we have not been able to obtain disease-free seed stock that is organically grown.After planting, we cultivate with a tractor to keep the plants free from weeds.If we are lucky, we do not have to do too much hand weeding.In the fall of Year 3, we cover our plants with rye straw.We grow rye straw on six to ten acres of our land, and if we are short, we buy it from Holmquest Farm in Hudson. In Year 4, in the spring, we rake the straw off the plants and place it in between them to protect the berries from the soil.We usually have to remove some weeds by hand.By the beginning of June of Year 4, we start picking.If the plants are clean and free from diseases, we try to get one more year out of them.Many organic growers have given up trying to get harvests two consecutive years, since weeds tend to take over after the first year of production. Also, the berries tend to be smaller in the second year of production, which increases the picking cost.
June 16, 2003 from the Roxbury Farm Newsletter
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