Strawberry Heaven

      Just returned from heaven. Heaven on earth, that is. It is so beautiful that I am at a loss of words to describe it here. But I shall try to do so. From the outside you see only green leaves, about 6-9 inches above ground, gently swaying in the breeze. With your fingers gently move the leaves apart and what you see are delicate stalks that support the leaves. At the base of this, on the ground you’ll find bunches of strawberries, white in color; each taking its own sweet time to become red. Red, the color of passion! The sudden sight of a mature fruit ripened into silky red, is absolutely thrilling. It is like finding heaven on earth. So how did this happen?

      Two years back I planted 25 strawberry plants, in the bare root form, in my garden. In the first year they produced about one bowl of fruits. In the second year, about 3-5 bowls in the entire season. But now in their third year, they are giving their peak performance.  The plants have almost doubled in number and matured in size too. The leaves are much larger, the stalks are taller than before. Much to my joy, I have been hand picking one full bowl daily (see above), since the last two weeks! Going by their numbers and the pace at which they are ripening, one can easily say that this pace of production will continue for atleast 2-3 more weeks! Doesn’t take much to create heaven on earth

Ratna

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