Who doesn't wait impatiently for the start of the strawberry harvest season? Fruits picked too early cause a bitter disappointment, as they do not ripen. Follow our instructions and harvest your strawberries at the right time.
The start is in the merry month of May
Under normal weather conditions, the strawberry harvest window opens in May. The classic varieties are picked by the end of July. Small-fruited monthly strawberries, wild strawberries and everbearing strawberry varieties extend the harvest time into October. Experienced strawberry gardeners therefore plant different varieties according to an ingenious plan and harvest the refreshing fruits until winter knocks at the door.
Reliably identify ripe strawberries
Since strawberries do not ripen later, the calendar alone does not determine the start of the harvest season. You can recognize a ripe fruit by these attributes:
- the strawberry is bright red throughout
- no white or yellowish border can be seen
- Fruit stalk and sepals shine in fresh green
- ripe fruits exude an intense, appetizing strawberry scent
Ideally, you should harvest the strawberries in the morning because the aroma content is at its highest at this time of day. Snap the fruit stalk in half, leaving the green sepals on the fruit.
tips and tricks
Knowledgeable hobby gardeners get an extra long strawberry season by cultivating a twice-bearing variety, such as Ostara. Half of the flowers break out in the spring. The result is a long harvesting season from the end of July until the first frost. If all the flowers are removed in spring, the main harvest is postponed to autumn.