First strawberries of the season

Douglas Hunt
by Douglas Hunt
Yes, you read that right. While strawberries are synonymous with summer in much of the country, they are a winter crop here in Florida, and the first ones of the season showed up at my farmers' market today, fresh from Pappy's Patch, a couple of weeks ahead of schedule thanks to our unseasonably warm weather. These beauties are a patented short-day cultivar known as "Florida Radiance," which was developed at the University of Florida and released in 2008. If you eat a strawberry in winter, whether you live in the US, Canada, Australia or Europe, there is a good chance you are eating "Florida Radiance" (although it is known as "Florida Fortuna" outside the US and Canada). Strawberry season here lasts until March. (And, yes, they taste as good as they look.)
A bowl of "Florida Radiance" strawberries, fresh from the farm.
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  • TheLastLeafGardener TheLastLeafGardener on Dec 30, 2013
    Your image is beautiful, Douglas! And you are so blessed to be able to grow this fruit! OR is the fruit blessed to be in your beautiful garden? I think i've only had ONE lone strawberry in my garden (INFO @ http://www.thelastleafgardener.com/2011/06/my-freckle-faced-strawberries-this.html) BUT I've heard that strawberries do not lie containers and do better in the ground. Do you know anything about this? BTW, did you work at a nursery in the city when you were in NY?
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    • TheLastLeafGardener TheLastLeafGardener on Dec 31, 2013
      @Douglas Hunt The Hudson Valley is a lovely place and I tend to support the farmers/growers from there when they come to NYC's Greenmarkets. Being a rooftop gardener I have not had deer (not even one of Santa's reindeer) but I have had mice and do have pigeons who hog all the feeders despite my pigeon proofing (which I've discussed in posts re bird feeders here on HT). And the folks across the courtyard have seen a hawk eyeing my garden. I am afraid someone or some predator has taken Emily's ("my" visiting Baltimore oriole) life and I am quite distraught about this. (INFO @ https://www.facebook.com/TheLastLeafGardener/posts/595613750488002) I know that Dr. Seuss is known to have said, "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened,” BUT I'm not there yet.
  • Bren Haas Bren Haas on Mar 08, 2014
    So lucky.... Can't wait to harvest these!
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