The first strawberry of the year

You know it is coming. The plant has been flowering for weeks, the green fruit swelling slowly under the leaves. Then one morning you step outside and there it is: the first strawberry, sun-warmed and perfectly red.

Nothing tastes quite like it. Shop-bought strawberries are fine, but this is different. The warmth is still in the skin. The flavour is sharp and sweet at once, almost floral. You eat it standing there, juice on your fingers, and summer begins properly.

Strawberries fruit early in Richmond’s gardens, sometimes before the roses reach their peak. They like sunshine and good drainage. They do not need much space. A pot on a balcony works just as well as a raised bed. The plants send out runners, and before long you have more than you started with.

The season is short. A few weeks of abundance, then it is over until next year. But that first berry, still warm from the plant, is worth the wait. It tastes like patience rewarded.

What do you grow that marks the start of summer for you?

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The Bench

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