Strawberries are the easiest and fastest-growing fruit to grow in home gardens. They are everyone’s favorite and beginner’s friendly. The plants will reward you with delicious berries if you can protect them from birds or rodents eating them first!
- To plant strawberries, choose an area of your garden that receives full sun. Strawberry fruit ripens and tests best when grown in full sun.
- Plant strawberry plants in spring or autumn, depending on your growing zone. (In my zone 6 I planted them also late summer after I bought them from a local fellow gardener after he harvested mature plants.
- Strawberries grow best in an in-ground garden or raised beds. They do well in containers but need space to send out runners for more harvest each year unless you do not want runners.
- Prepare the soil by amending it with well-aged manure, and compost. For containers use a quality potting mix with lots of organic matter and fertilizer.
- Plant strawberries about 8-10 inches apart which will give the plant enough room to grow and mature as well as send out runners.
- Water the strawberry plants 1 inch a week, or as needed depending on your climate and weather.
- For great fruit production ensure the plants are well fertilized with continuous-release fertilizer.
- Strawberries are harvested once they are rich in red color, fragrant, juicy, and sweet. The best is to harvest them in the cool of the morning when they are most juicy.
- Save seeds from the best strawberries so you can plant them in your garden for increased production.
- If in an area with pests like birds, or rodents, that like to eat strawberries, cover the plants with netting.
What month is best to plant strawberries?
The best month to plant strawberry roots is April and May. Strawberry plants can also be planted in late summer, or autumn depending on the growing zone.
How do you prepare the soil for strawberries?
Strawberries grow well in sandy or loamy soil. Loosen up the soil if compacted. Strawberries like rich, fertile soil. Amend the soil before planting with organic matter such as compost, or aged animal manure.
Get the organic 1 cubic feet lobster compost here, (2 pack).
What is the proper way to plant strawberries?
Plant strawberry plants by burying only about ¾ of the crown. Let the top of the crown be uncovered. If strawberries are planted too deep, they will start to decay. The crown is the point from which the roots grow out on the bottom and leaves and flowers grow from the top. Let the top of the crown from which the leaves and flowers grow uncovered.
How to fertilize strawberries
Fertilize strawberry plants with blood meal, fish meal, or alfalfa meal mixed in the ground before planting. Slow-release fertilizers specifically mixed for berry plants can also be used. Fertilize twice per growing season with fish fertilizer.
Get berry acidic fertilizer here.
This year, I simply use one liquid concentrate fertilizer for my whole garden and all plants. I use this one. This one is a concentrate so it will go a long way. I only use 10mill for 1 gallon of water. My plants look good so far, even strawberries as you can see from a photo below taken just yesterday, May 8.
Is it better to plant strawberries in the ground or in containers?
Strawberries are perennials, it is best to plant them in an in-ground bed, or raised bed, for long-term growth. An in-ground garden or a raised bed will provide enough space for the strawberry plant to send and grow runners from which new plants will grow. While it is perfectly fine to plant strawberries in containers, there might not be enough space for the runners to grow and get established. Container strawberries might therefore have a shorter lifespan. Containers such as grow bags, window boxes, and hanging baskets will do well for one or two seasons.
If you choose to plant strawberries in a container, then I suggest a stackable vertical one that is easy to move around on a caddy, and allows you to protect your berries from birds and rodents by easily wrapping it with netting. Get a stackable berry container here.
A GOOD READ: How to start a container garden for beginners, How to protect vegetable garden beds
I use this garden netting. It is a large roll of 10×100 feet that comes in a bag. It is easy to use and let the sun, air and water through. This one also comes in smaller sizes if 100 feet is too large for you.
Where is the best place to plant strawberries?
The best place to plant strawberries is a location with full sun. A full-sun location will provide the best conditions to produce the tastiest fruit. The location should be level as strawberry plants do not like to sit in wet soil, as the crown would rot. Ensure the strawberries have enough space to grow and root runners that the mother plant will send out. These runners are your future strawberry plant.
The strawberry plant will produce the best in the first year. In the second year, it will produce also. A strawberry plant can produce for up to four to five years, but fruit production will decrease significantly.
To ensure you have new strawberry plants every year, simply let the mother plant send out runners which will grow into completely new strawberry plants. New runners will root and grow the first year and produce the fruit the next year.
You can simply let the runners grow naturally and let them root and establish themselves where they grow. Or you can clip them off of the mother plant once the runners have roots coming out of them and plant them out where you want them to be. This will ensure your strawberry patch will grow and produce well year after year.
What to avoid when planting strawberries?
Avoid planting strawberry plants or bare roots too deep. Dig a hole only as deep as to cover ¾ of the crown. The crown is the nod from which roots grow on the bottom. Place the roots and ¾ of the crown in a hole and cover it with soil leaving the top part of the crown uncovered. From the top part, the leaves and the fruit will grow. Tamp the soil around the crown. Avoid planting strawberries with tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants, or melons as these can introduce a fungi disease called Verticillium wilt.
Follow the same instructions when planting the strawberry plants as well, by burying the roots and only ¾ of the crown leaving the top of the crown uncovered.
Ensure the plants have moist soil, but avoid overwatering as too much water might cause roots and crowns to rot.
Do strawberries come back every year?
Yes, strawberries are perennial fruit and will grow back every year if the plants are healthy. The leaves of the plant might die over winter but the roots will overwinter and grow new leaves and fruit.
When purchasing any fruit or vegetable always ensure that the variety is suitable for your hardiness zone.
A GOOD READ: What do hardiness zones mean and how to determine yours
Do strawberry plants spread?
Yes, strawberry plants spread out as they sent out runners as a means of propagating themselves. Runners can be let grow as they grow or clipped off of the mother plant and planted where you choose. If you do not wish for the strawberries to spread, eliminate the runners of plants in containers to prevent them from spreading. For those who like to enlarge their strawberry patch or fruit production, runners are usually a very welcomed propagation method.
Can I grow strawberries from seed?
Yes, strawberries can be grown from seed. Choose the best and most mature strawberry and take out the seeds from the fruit using a toothpick or tweezers. Scatter the seeds on a moist paper towel, fold it, and place it in the Ziploc. Place the ziplock bag with the seeds in the fridge till they sprout. Strawberry seeds might take 2-8 weeks to sprout. You can choose to plant sprouted seeds as soon as they sprout or wait for the rest of the seeds to sprout as well and plant them all at once. The seeds might not sprout all at once, but it is all well to plant even not sprouted seeds as they will sprout once planted.
I sprouted strawberry seeds, and it was fun! I had dozens and dozens just from one large very well ripe fruit. I used twisters to take the seeds out of the berry. I then scattered them on a moistened paper towel and kept them in the fridge for 2 weeks. I planted the seeds once I had the majority sprouted.
I planted the seeds not too deep and just lightly covered them with the soil. Keep the soil moist. As it was late spring, I kept my sowed seeds outdoors and planted them the same year in the ground. My strawberry patch grew significantly after I planted new seedlings I grew from seeds. It is not difficult it is mainly a waiting game.
To keep my strawberry patch growing in size every year, I plant every single runner and at the start of the patch, I also let the seeds sprout and grew my own seedlings. Now that my patch is of a nice size and strawberries send lots of runners, I just keep on planting runners.
I am thinking to start seeds again this spring to sell strawberry seedlings in the fall or late summer. One can get a lot of seedlings from just one strawberry fruit!
