Something is eating the best strawberries, and it certainly isn’t us. To be honest, I’m quite at a loss to explain what it is. I don’t think it’s slugs or snails as there is no sign of either anywhere in the plot right now, and I’ve been using an organic killer to keep them away.

I doubt worms would be able to eat that much (or indeed be interested) and I can see no sign of maggots. It’s highly unlikely it’s any of the neighbourhood cats or the den of foxes at the bottom of the garden.

Which leaves what? Birds? I think that’s probably the most plausible explanation, as whatever is doing it has a keen sense of colour. The green ones are always left alone, but the red ones get a thorough pecking. At least whatever it is eats them one at a time rather than racing through the whole crop in one go.

If they keep on at that rate – one by one – I don’t mind sharing, but with the yield being so low so far this year I can’t really afford too many more to disappear in the same way.

To date, we’ve had 18 fruits, so we need only six more to match what we got last year. Considering we’re growing twice as many plants this time around (12) and some of the produce has been smaller than a hazelnut, though, I’m starting to wonder whether strawberries require more attention than their paltry output deserves.

Maybe I’ll leave this year’s plants in the ground until next summer and see if things improve second time around.

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fruit, self sufficiency, self+sufficiency, self-sufficiency

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1. Strawberries without the straw
2. Something is eating our strawberries
3. Replanting the strawberry patch