New Scientist - USA (2022-03-05)

5 March 2022 | New Scientist | 51

The back pages

GA

P^ P

HO

TO

S/J

UL

IA^ B

OU

LTO

N

These articles are

posted each week at

newscientist.com/maker

What you need
Young strawberry plants
Pots or growbags of compost
An outdoor table
Netting to protect the
plants from birds

THERE are plenty of reasons

people grow their own fruit

and vegetables: it is a satisfying

outdoor hobby, it gets you some

exercise and the produce has

low food miles, usually making

it good for the planet too.

Another reason is that

many home-grown fruits and

vegetables taste better than

the ones on sale in shops.

The difference is particularly

noticeable for some types of

produce, such as new potatoes,

asparagus, tomatoes, strawberries,

raspberries and blueberries.

There can be several

explanations. One is that the

varieties grown by farmers are

often different to those sold for

home growing. Farmers use

varieties best able to be picked

and transported to supermarkets

without bruising or rotting,

or those for which all the fruit

reliably ripen at the same time,

making for an easier harvest.

Recent work by researchers

at the University of Florida into

what makes for the tastiest

tomatoes has found it is driven

by differences in sugar and acidity,

as well as numerous “volatiles” –

biochemicals that are in gas form

at room temperatures. As we chew

and swallow the flesh of a tomato,

these aromatic compounds

reach the nose via the back of the

throat; what we think of as the

tomato’s taste is really a mixture

of its taste and smell.

The same is true for

strawberries, a crop renowned for

sometimes having disappointing

flavour when bought from a shop.

Strawberries are tastier to eat when you grow your own, but they

are also vulnerable. Here’s how to succeed, says Clare Wilson

Science of gardening

Strawberry yields forever

A key problem for commercial

growers is that these fruits may

be harvested before they are fully

ripe – when volatiles called esters

are at their peak – or the fruit gets

too bruised during transportation.

Once picked, levels of sugars,

acids and volatiles in the fruit

start to decline, so it is really worth

growing them at home or visiting

a pick-your-own farm.

I have to admit, strawberries

can be hard plants to get much of

a crop from. As they lie close to the

ground, they can be snaffled by

slugs (see page 48), mice and birds,

and can also get splashed by rain

and soil, which encourages rot.

I have better luck when I grow

them in pots sited on shelves in a

greenhouse or fruit cage, which

keeps them out of harm’s way.

An alternative is to use growbags

or pots placed on an outdoor
table, or hanging baskets – you just
need to put netting over the plant
when the fruits start turning red.
Not all the tiny, green, immature
fruits that form will survive and
mature into ripe, red fruit, but
those that do are worth the effort.
In a temperate climate like the
UK’s, pick strawberries during the
warmest part of the day, when
their volatiles peak.
Keeping them in the fridge
hastens their loss of taste, but
storing them at room temperature
will see them quickly becoming
mushy. There is nothing for it but
to eat them straight away, ideally
Science of gardening right off the plant. ❚
appears every four weeks

Next week
Citizen science

Clare Wilson is a reporter

at New Scientist and

writes about everything

life-science related.

Her favourite place is her

allotment @ClareWilsonMed

Feedback

Schrödinger’s trash

and a mummy’s voice;

the week in weird p56

Tom Gauld for 

New Scientist

A cartoonist’s take

on the world p55

Almost the last word

Why do only some

materials glow under

UV light? p54

Puzzles

Try our crossword,

quick quiz and

logic puzzle p53

Twisteddoodles

for New Scientist

Picturing the lighter

side of life p56