Meet my strawberry. I started it from seed in February, and it seems to be getting along well with the other plants. It lives in the container on the windowsill, and gets a lot of sun, but not too much to handle as it is as we live as close to the north pole as one can get on the mainland.
Now I wasn't actually expecting any fruit the first year, but when the flowers arrived I became a bit anxious for it anyways. The flowers look perfect, but when the point comes for them to turn into berries they dry out and fall off. I tried hand pollinating them, and it didn't really work. Some of the flowers turned into zombie-like versions of strawberries, mutant like, small and shriveled.
What I'd like to know is if this is expected of strawberries the first year, and if there is something I can do to make them happier. It looks pretty happy from the distance, and is producing a lot of leaves, including new growth.
I took these pictures with my mobile phone, but if you guys need better quality I can take more with a real camera.
I am new to this forum, but will probably come by with more questions as I love experimenting with seeds and watching miracles happen as plants grow, grow, grow!