POWNAL (WGME) -- The strawberry season is upon us and it’s almost time to head to your local farm to pick some yourself.
Strawberry season typically runs through July 4. Dwight Ely, the owner of Bradbury Mountain Berry Farm in Pownal, says they put extra emphasis on making sure customers get to pick as soon as possible.
“What we do is we raised beds and we have a plastic mulch that goes over it and that keeps the soil a little bit warmer in the spring and keeps the weeds out. I’d like to think it allows us to have a nicer berry as they are protected a little bit,” Ely said.
For those of you looking to create a strawberry patch at home, there’s still time. Ely says there are a few steps to keep in mind before you start planting.
“Good soil, well-drained soil, a little bit of 10-10-10 fertilizer, keep the weeds out, pretty much anything you do with your garden is what you want to do with your strawberries,” Ely said.
A big part of growing strawberries is paying attention to their water intake.
“You think about all the moisture they’re taking up, right, because they have to stay alive and then they have to put moisture into the berries. So, I would say you probably need the equivalent of an inch of rain a couple times a week,” Ely said.
Bradbury Mountain Berry Farm is pick your own, and Ely says there’s nothing like watching people pack the farm this time of the year.
“Having families come out and pick berries is really wonderful because you always hear the stories about how the daughter will say, ‘I’m doing it with my child because I remember doing it with my grandmother,’ and it’s just a nice tradition,” Ely said.
Ely says he is planning to have the field open to pick at some point this weekend.