Wild strawberries approaching!

Guess what? 

I'll be gorging on wild strawberries pretty soon!  I can't wait!

In case you don't remember (or have not been here before) - it's the same plant that travelled through half of Europe in an ordinary postal package, straight from my parents' garden to mine.  It looked rather sad right after the transit:

The brave strawberries regained life pretty soon, within a month or so being covered in fresh green leaves and sprouting first tentative flowers.

Now the plant has plenty of small, yellow-still fruits and I'm counting the days down to my first strawberries-and-cream of the summer.  Yeah! 

True, this will probably be very tiny dessert - I expect a spoonful or two after I've shared it with my other half - but IT WILL BE THERE.  And at present there is no chance whatsoever of buying wild strawberries on the Irish market.  It's simply not possible, at least as far as I know.

Well, I've had my share of gardening failures (sad story of a raspberry bush, anyone?), but wild strawberries are definitely a bright success. 

Another week or so... 

Strawberries are doing fine

Remember the most cosmopolitan strawberries in the world from few posts back?

They looked rather sad on the picture then, all dry and tired by the journey.

Here's little update to prove they are doing great.

So far I saw only two flowers between four plants, but it's still early in the year and I'm confident I'll see more.

Anyway I'm really proud of them because they've been bravely surviving crappy Irish weather.

It's funny to think what a luxury wild strawberries have become.  I didn't see them on the market even once during my five years in Ireland, and I know of only one place where they grow - all on private land so I can't really go for a berry-picking trip. 

When I was a child, I would just go to a nearby forest and come back with a full basket. 

Ah well.  Now I'll have my own forest on the balcony.  Tiny, but mine.

Probably the most cosmopolitan strawberries in the world

Ever wondered if it is possible to post a living plant over some thousand kilometres so that it survives?

Well, let me officially tell you - it is!

This bunch of wild strawberries maybe doesn't look like much at the moment, but believe me, there are tiny brand new shoots showing up in the middle of all the dry stuff.

They were dug out from their growing place in Poland, wrapped up in wet tissue paper and cling film plastic, then packed into a bubble envelope and posted to me here in Ireland with a standard postal service.

I have a funny suspition that this may not be exactly legal, but if you, dear reader, happen to be an off-duty officer of the Law, please don't prosecute me!  It's only few tiny plants and I swear I'm not going to let them go wild and take over the island...  Anyway, the social damage is minuscule, and if I get my wild strawberries this season, there will be one more happy citizen around.  Or two, perhaps, if I decide to share the bounty.

You know what's the best part?

AN EARTHWORM was accidentally dug up and posted, too.
It survived.