Strawberries are the taste of British summertime and are surprisingly easy to grow. Find out more about the British strawberry growing season, including advice on how to grow your own, varieties and the best places to pick your own strawberries. <\/p>

British strawberries are sweet and delicious, and can be enjoyed from early May<\/a> until September<\/a>. Full of nutrients and easy to grow yourself, it is easy to see why this colourful fruit is so popular.<\/div>\n\n

Ripeness is key. When strawberries are red, mature, and at their nutritional peak, all the naturally occurring chemicals that contribute to their delicious flavour and aroma \u2013 furanones, aldehydes, alcohols, sulphur compounds, phenols, flavonols, esters, terpenes, reach their most potent.<\/div>\n

Learn more about the British strawberry growing season, including advice on how to grow your own, strawberry varieties and the best places to \u2018pick your own\u2019 strawberries in our strawberry guide.<\/p>\n

See our seasonal guides to elderflower<\/a>, blackberries<\/a> and apples<\/a> for more inspiration on foraging.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

When is the British strawberry season?<\/h2>\n
The British strawberry seasons officially starts on 1st May and continues through until September. British-grown supermarket berries are generally riper than imports because they have less distance to travel.<\/div>\n\n
Ripe berries are fragile and have a short shelf-life, so growers tend to supply supermarkets with slightly under-ripe fruits to avoid returns and rejections. This is particularly true of strawberries imported from Europe and further afield, which are picked \u2018green and backward\u2019 to withstand the journey.<\/div>\n\n
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More related content:<\/p>\n
Elderflower guide: how to identify, where to find it and elderflower recipes<\/a><\/li>\n
British apple guide: traditional apple varieties and recipe ideas, plus how to grow your own tree<\/a><\/li>\n
Blackberry guide: where to find, how to cook and recipe ideas<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>
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Strawberry plant varieties<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
British heritage varieties renowned for their eating quality, include Royal Sovereign, Hapil, Cambridge Favourite, Cambridge Vigour and Cambridge Late Pine.<\/div>\n\n
Commercial growers rarely choose them because, when grown on a large scale, they are prone to disease. Instead they are concentrating on newer varieties, such as Alice, Symphony, Florence, Sonata, Alice, Eros, Honeyoye and Pegasus, which have more flavour than Elsanta, but better disease-resistance than traditional varieties.<\/div>\n\n
Whatever their variety, strawberries taste better during their natural growing season. In the UK and Ireland, that\u2019s a six-week to two-month period, between late May and the end of July. Growers have developed techniques to extend this short season, growing strawberries under plastic tunnels and drip-feeding them nutrients.<\/div>\n\n
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Strawberry, lemon curd, mascarpone and pepper sandwiches<\/a><\/p>\n
These easy-to-make summer sandwiches are perfect for a family lunch in the garden or a picnic by the river.<\/p>\n
Plus find the best strawberry jam in our jam review test<\/a><\/p>\n
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How to grow strawberries<\/h2>\n
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