Winter Strawberries

Dawn at today's solstice, looking out across the Moray Firth at 8.30 this morning. It's mid-winter here but in our garden....

....our strawberries are doing well.

A couple of days ago the media was making quite a fuss of a Sussex farm which was growing and ripening strawberries in winter - see Sky News story here. Well, our winter strawberries grow in our garden in the north of Scotland, and they don't need the greenhouses, heat, lights and special feeding processes that the Sussex ones do.

So far, these unique strawberries have survived a couple of frosts and some very damp, chilly weather. There's no sign of them rotting - mind you, there's no sign of them ripening either - but we're confident that, in a few week's time, we'll be sitting down to eat the first bowlful of our home-grown strawberries.

Of course, we'd be very pleased indeed if some entrepreneur or other, seeing a real opportunity here, were to make us a handsome offer for this priceless plant, with the intention of using it to breed cheap, tasty winter strawberries.

We'll keep you posted.