Hoes

No, Yawee, don't get your ears prickled. First step before the strawberry plugs are planted is to prepare the land. Now, we'd sent the soil and water to the good folks at Thokar, who charged us the massive amount of Rs11 for soil and water testing, the results are due back in 2 weeks. However, strawberries like slightly acidic (PH6-7), sandy soil, with lots of organic material and good drainage. This we seemed to have already, so Tariq (my main help at the farm) had the land prepared with a few turns of double-disc tractor, when the soil was nicely loose and pulverised, he made rows for plantation.

Unfortunately, he used the equipment available locally, which was suitable for onions and the like, but not for strawberries, and we decided eventually to redo the rows. We ran a begging to AWT for their beg maker, and rented it out for Rs 1000, who came promptly thanks to a kind word from the Colonel and in a matter of a couple of hours our beds were level, flat and wide. Ready for plantation.