Just in time for Easter Landgard started on the Lower Rhine with the harvest of the first fresh greenhouse strawberries of the popular variety "Elsanta". "Shortly after Easter - and thus a few days earlier than in the previous year - we can already offer our trading partners the first fresh tunnel goods from the south and east of Germany," says Labinot Elshani 
of the Landgard eG, the course of the harvest. "Above all, this is the 'Clery' variety, which ripens earlier than other common varieties of strawberry due to its good cold tolerance and at the same time convinces with its fruity-sweet and very aromatic taste."
In the merry month of May, the strawberry season will pick up speed at Landgard: While southern German companies will be able to harvest the first outdoor strawberries from week 19 onwards, the first delicious regional red fruits from protected tunnels will be available in the west from mid-May. In the Rhineland the grower cooperative expects starting from the end of May with the start of the open season for strawberries, also in the east of Germany in May with the first crops of the Clery varieties to be expected. In early June the Alba and Asia varieties will follow. In the Münsterland, the open field harvest is expected to begin around mid-June.
'Good open field harvest expected'As of today, Landgard is optimistic about the strawberry season which has just started. Labinot Elshani: "Since no major frost damage occurred in the winter, from how things are at the moment, we expect a good harvest." The exact course and extent of the season is, of course, largely dependent on the weather over the next few weeks. To ensure reliable availability throughout the season, more and more Landgard member companies are relying on protected strawberry cultivation. Currently, the Landgard member companies are building fresh strawberries on approximately 510 hectares of open land and more than 120 hectares under glass or in tunnels, mainly in the main growing regions in the south, east and west of Germany, especially for regional trade.
For more information: www.landgard.de