By the name of this berry, like strawberry varieties "Elizabeth 2" many believe that it was bred in England, but there is no solid evidence for this at the moment, in addition, breeders themselves can not say exactly where such a berry was bred. It is worth considering the variety in more detail in order to understand whether it is worth planting such bushes on your site, and also to understand the rules for caring for these plants.
Detailed description of strawberry shrubs
Such a strawberry Queen Elizabeth, according to the description of the variety with photos and reviews, has rather large and very beautiful fruits, for this reason the variety has attracted the attention of many summer residents and gardeners. Each of the fruits is quite large, on average, the berries can reach about sixty grams in weight, although most often the fruits are a bit smaller, about forty grams each. The coloring of the berries is distinguished by its brightness, since the strawberry after ripening acquires a red saturated shade.
Such fruits are often used for commercial purposes, all for the reason that they can tolerate long-distance transportation, while their appearance does not suffer in any way due to the rather dense structure of the pulp. If it is necessary to store the fruits, the berries can retain their freshness for a very long time, they are recommended to be used for freezing in the winter, and this variety is not rarely used in cooking, as the berries have a very pleasant taste.
Now it’s worth talking about the taste qualities of Queen Elizabeth strawberries, according to the description of the variety with photos and reviews the berries can vary significantly in taste, someone writes about the excellent taste, others say that the strawberries in the ripe form are too sour. The taste qualities of this particular variety will greatly depend on how well the berries are taken care of, strawberry bushes need constant watering and complementary foods. In rainy weather the berries can ripen sour, for this reason in a rainy and wetter summer you should not expect too sweet a crop. Must be carried out top dressing strawberries after fruiting.
Fruiting in this variety begins at the moment when the early bushes begin to produce their first fruits, while the duration of the production of berries can reach the very first frosts, which often attracts gardeners and summer residents. If the gardener can cover the bushes in time, the flower stalks will survive the winter, and with the onset of the first warm days of spring they will begin to prepare for the first harvest, in this case you can get berries much earlier, even those varieties that are early. But in this case, one should not rely on the sweet taste of the fruit, since spring is usually quite wet and rainy.
Fruiting does not occur constantly, but occurs in waves, when the first period of berry delivery is over, the bush can rest for about two weeks, after which it again resumes the process of berry formation. In the southern warm regions summer residents can collect about five waves from one shrub, and in cold regions the bush bears fruit about three times per season. In the summer, the berries are distinguished by their sweetness, but in the autumn, you should not rely heavily on getting very sweet fruits.
Planting and Care Rules
Strawberry Queen Elizabeth, according to the description of the variety with photos and reviews, requires a special approach to planting and care, since the berries on the large bushes are quite large, they need a lot of nutrients, plus the variety brings the crop far more than once. Of course, these plants will have to be constantly watered, and also carried out strawberry dressing directly into the ground.
If strawberry shrubs will only be planted in the soil, then the holes should be taken care of in advance, additional superphosphate must be added to the soil, if the soil has high acidity, you will have to add lime to it, this will help neutralize the acid. Also, strawberries are necessarily fed during the entire fruiting period, for this ten parts of water and one part of cow manure are taken, shrubs are watered with this means to saturate the soil with useful components.
You can use other similar fertilizers. Watering is done at the moment when the soil dries, usually in rainy weather, watering is done once a week, and on hot days it is necessary to moisten the soil every day. If the plant has little moisture, then the berries will grow small and acidic, it’s also better to choose an open sun for the planting, and a place protected from the wind.
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