got seduced in to buying Florian strawberry seeds in ALDI

[nickdub]

Saw this packet of seeds when I was having a mooch around, and as they were new to me I forked out £1.50 for them. I sowed them yesterday, so we shall see whether it was a wise move or not :-)

[nickdub]

After a quick read over I remembered it was ASDA not ALDI, before anyone spends time checking the wrong supermarket.

[veggiechicken]

Thought they were expensive for Aldi.

[nickdub]

I blame senility, and the fact that the shops have similar names + I'm a bit scatty sometimes.

[veggiechicken]

There's nothing wrong with scatty. I always confuse Aldi and Lidl.

As for Ildi tomato - stoopid name, bound to be called summat else!

[nickdub]

Quick up date - my Florian seed has germinated and looks like I will get some plants on the back of my impulse buy - now all I have to do is work out somewhere that I can put them, rapidly running out of space.

[Welsh76]

I sowed Florian Stawberrry seeds last year and they were slow to get going and by the time they were large enough to produce fruit it was the end of the summer and the strawberries were tiny and didn’t have time to ripen and they just died off in the autumn.

At the moment they’re a decent size in my hanging basket and I’m hoping for better things this year.

Hopefully you’ll have more success than me.

[nickdub]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if I end up with roughly the same result you did - in fact I'll be reasonably chuffed if I get some decent sized plants to crop next year.
I'm planning on growing on mine in some sort of hanging containers too - may be some pots with wires through the top to give them a bit more depth of root run.

[nickdub]

Quick update on the Florian strawberries - I overwintered them outside in pots, having taken off any flowers last year before they set fruit.

I brought them in to my poly-tunnel about a month ago and I see today that there are a few with visible flower buds - so hopefully I shall get some fruit. The plants look healthy, albeit the leaves are smaller than the ones I'm used to - I've ended up with some extra plants too, as some of them produced runners last year which rooted.

[Babru]

A taste update later in the season would be very welcome

[nickdub]

A taste update later in the season would be very welcome

will do, assuming I get somewhere - these will be the first perpetual fruiting type I've grown, so will be interesting from that perspective.

[nickdub]

OK, update as promised - fruits started ripening this week - they are a bit less than half the size of a standard shop strawberry, quite long and pointed in shape, a little like mini rugby balls - dark red, and the flavour to me seems v tasty, like a cross between a wild strawberry and a cultivated one - the plants differ a bit, as some have white flowers and some pink.

[nickdub]

Had some more fruit now from these plants - I'd give the taste score as 9 out of 10 as I can imagine there may be better tasting varieties out there, not that I've ever tried a better one.

Obviously the fruit size is small say less than half of a standard strawberry and also they are going to bear over a long season.

I'd say if you are an experienced gardener and fancy something a bit different then they are worth a try but for the beginner the initial germination etc may be a bit tricky, so perhaps try getting some runners from a friend or wherever as your first try rather than these ones.