Organic Strawberry Mariguette plants (everbearing) - Fragaria ananassa

The Strawberry 'Mariguette' from Organic Agriculture is a perpetual strawberry variety that blooms and bears fruit multiple times throughout the season, from June to October. It combines the qualities of its parents 'Mara des Bois' and 'Gariguette': exceptional wild strawberry fragrance, earliness, and productivity. Its large elongated fruits with an orange-red colour resemble the 'Gariguette'. An exceptional new creation! Planting is preferably done in autumn for a harvest from May/June to October.

Strawberries can be consumed in multiple ways: they can be eaten fresh, with sugar, cream, or sliced thinly and dried before being incorporated into muesli or yoghurt. If you have a plentiful harvest, consider making jams, sauces, pies, ice creams, or sorbets. You can also freeze strawberries.

There are three categories of strawberry varieties:

- Wild or perpetual strawberry varieties, producing small fruits from June to October

- Non-perpetual varieties with large fruits, blooming once a year in spring and producing very large fruits around the month of June

- Perpetual varieties with large fruits, blooming twice a year or continuously, producing large fruits from June to October

In fact, the wild strawberry, present during Roman times and the medieval period, was crossed in the 18th century with a species brought from Chile, allowing for the obtaining of different varieties with large fruits through successive selections.

The Strawberry is a hardy perennial belonging to the Rosaceae family. This 'Mariguette' variety has a compact habit with evergreen trifoliate, ovate, and dentate leaves. It offers small white flowers with a golden centre that will transform into large red fruits. Botanically speaking, strawberries are referred to as pseudocarps, with the achenes (seeds) appearing on the surface of the skin.

For harvesting, pick the fruits as they ripen, every 2 or 3 days, ideally in the morning. Strawberries are fragile, so pick them with their stalks by pinching the stem 1 to 2 cm (0 to 1in) above it. The texture of the fruit is a good indicator of ripeness. It should be firm and soft when touched. Strawberries are rich in vitamins and minerals. They can cause urticating sensations for some people as they stimulate the release of histamine in the body.