Strawberry harvest today

A very productive day in the strawberry field. The expectations were high considering the special technique to tie the fruits as explained in my previous blog message. Today, more than 4,5 kilogramss were harvested while yesterday and the days before good harvests were already taken. Worth noting is the low fraction of rotten berries while very little chemical treatment was applied. Only a single sulphur dusting treatment was provided during the flowering period. I speculate that the decision to tie the bushes together preventing contact of the berries with the soil is a positive element to protect them from infection with fungi and bacteria.
The fruits are very delicious and as there are too many some are frozen for later use in strawberry jam and perhaps for a pie.

A second harvest taken today are the sugar peas (in Dutch sluimererwten). They are special as they are taken very early, in fact before the peas are formed with the intention to eat the covers in wok dishes. As they are taken so early the harvest was limited, but considering the destructive actions of pigeons during early spring it was still worthwhile to plant them. The prepareed dishes were delicious.