Help! Big change of plans!

I have two raised beds for edible gardening (plus pots on the patio).

This year I earmarked one bed for strawberry plants. This was my plan:



The left bed is as per the plan. The right bed has some poached egg plants in it, but I can pull those if need be.

My strawberry plants arrived today and they're a rotting mess. Completely unusable. (I've already asked for a refund.)

I was already quite stressed today due to something else going very wrong, and I find that I'm completely unable to work out what I want to do about this. Please help me throw some ideas around!

Do I:

a) Buy more strawberry plants from elsewhere and carry on with the original plan, or
b) Put something else in the second bed?

• I don't have time to grow anything from seed, so I'm limited to what I can buy as plants.
• I can't go to a garden centre, so I'm limited to what I can buy online.
• I will not buy from Marshalls, as I've now had two terrible experiences with them.

What would you do?

 

As you ARE doing! Asking advice here; they will help you find a reliable supplier, so you can stay with your original plan. Good luck and happy gardening!

 

If you are still keen on the idea of getting strawberries but are struggling to find some you can order online, perhaps you could order some annuals which you could put in the bed for this year and then go back to your original plan next ear when, hopefully, you will be able to go to the garden centre(s) and select you strawberries in person.

Another alternative would be to plant some quick cropping seeds like radish, chard, beetroot, spinach and various lettuces?

 

I did think I should have grown lettuce this year - I've put it on the plan for next year. Maybe I'll do fewer strawberries and pop some extra things in there too.

Spinach is a brilliant idea too, I adore eggs florentine and would be all over some fresh spinach!

 

@Arlandria Sorry to hear about your issues with Marshalls strawberry plants. I've had good plants from Ken Muir and Ashridge Nurseries in the past.

 

Thank you! I had a look at both but they're all out of stock - unfortunately it's a bit late to be shopping for them now.

 

New plan:



L-R:
Nasturtiums (Little Gem Mix)
Dwarf French Beans (Safari)
Strawberries (Mailing Champion - pack of 12 but I'll put the other 4 in hanging baskets)
Lettucs (Cosberg)
Spinach (Perpetual)
Nasturtiums (Little Gem Mix)

That should give me some of the original strawberry plan plus some quick results and some pretty flowers. It'll also give me leftover seeds ready for next year.

If anyone sees any reason not to go ahead with this, please let me know! Most of these plants in the right hand bed are new to me, though I have purposefully looked for ones which are apparently easy to grow.

The layout is based on both rotation and companion so should hopefully be okay.

 

I would buy strawberries from another suppliers. It's what I'm going to do this season. It's just early, juneberries just produced berries and will start growing babyplug plants. Worth to check garden centres either, they might have fruiting plants in pots.

 

Hi @Arlandria I got Marshmello strawberries from Gardeners' Dream on Amazon. Delivered very fast, nice little plants with good rootballs. Soaked overnight and then planted, they soon settled in and some are already forming flower buds!

 

As @CarolineL marshmello from garderners dream but their eBay site, good plants, bought 2 lots so far.

 

Thanks everyone. I have some strawberries on the way and seeds to take up the rest of the space in the bed. It'll be nice to have crops later in the year and it'll set me up nicely for next year's growing.