Today is Pick Strawberries Day! Have you and your family been out to pick these delicious berries right off the plant yet this spring?
There’s something wonderful about fresh strawberries eaten straight from the plant. With each bite, one can taste the careful care taken to produce the delicious red fruit.
Strawberries are perennials, but in order to ensure that they grow healthy, strong, and scrumptious year after year, fertilizer is used to provide the nutrients that the plants need to grow and prosper.
For the beautiful and delicious strawberries pictured, grown in northern Virginia, calcium nitrate and potassium nitrate are the necessary nutrients. Fertilizer’s are applied through a carefully devised fertigation system that works to guarantee that the fertilizer is applied at the right rate, at the right time, and in the right place to maximize yields while protecting the surrounding environment.
In honor of Pick Strawberries Day, the NFLF team took a trip out to Executive Director Harriet Wegmeyer’s farm to visit one of her several strawberry patches (this one located at Oatlands Historic Mansion) for some hands-on learning. In addition to learning about the strawberry plants ourselves, we also saw several school groups and families stop by the fields to learn everything about growing strawberries and take some home themselves. It was a wonderful experience for our team and we invite you to continue our fun by visiting a strawberry patch near you!
Can’t get out to the field? Check out our virtual field trip, where students get a real world look into the science behind how produce, like strawberries, peppers and squash are grown and harvested, and how they go from soil to your store.
