Strawberry Planting Time!
A quick answer to this question would be Springtime of course! The reasons are obvious. Strawberries like warm weather to develop and ripen into the sweet fruity flavour that we all associate with strawberries.
The warmer soil of Spring activates the plant and encourages early growth – as it does with almost all plants in fact.
With spring in the air, planting strawberries or indeed tending last years plants, should be the first thing on your mind! Strawberries are one of the easiest – and in my mind one of the most productive – of crops to grow in your garden.
Indeed strawberries can be very easily and effectively grown in pots, and laid out on the patio for an affective and fruitful (like what I did there!) display.
Personally I think that the raised bed gardening system is perfect for this plant as it is so much easier to protect from the birds, via netting hung over a simple framework of plastic pipes. They are also easier to harvest and tend in a raised bed garden; however maybe I’m just biased 🙂
Top tip for growing strawberries is to make sure you have a good mix of well rotted organic material in your compost, and lay over the surface with some dry straw to discourage slugs and present a dry area for the strawberries to lay on.
If you do not want the plants to take over the area, be sure to sink in a barrier of some sort about 4″ deep around your plants; and pay attention to snipping the runners before they ‘go walkabout.’
Choosing Your Strawberry Plants
There are basically three different plants available from most good garden centers, that will produce fruit at different times of the year or growing season
, and they are..
- June Bearing Strawberries
- Everbearing Strawberries
- Day Neutral Strawberries
June Bearing Strawberry Plants:
These produce a large crop, during a 2-4 week period in the springtime. Classified as early, mid-season and late varieties, the largest fruits are generally produced from these June varieties.
Everbearing Strawberries:
These will generally produce good crops of strawberries throughout the growing season. A good plant, more non-invasive than some as it does not send out many runners during the season.
Day Neutral Strawberries:
Very similar to the everbearing strawberry plants in that they do not produce many runners, and will produce fruit through most of the growing season. Fruit on this plant and the everbearing strawberry, tends to be smaller than the June bearing plant.
Mulching Strawberries For Best Results
Mulching your strawberries:
Mulching is important in that it helps keep the weeds at bay, and keeps the fruit off the wet soil. As mentioned earlier in this article, straw is traditionally used for this purpose.
Strawberries are painfully easy to grow, and do not need a lot of attention. Just make sure they get a minimum 8 hours sunshine, are well watered and fed (do not overdo it), and are protected from birds, (netting is best) slugs and aphids. This will guarantee you a delicious crop of juicy strawberries all season long.
Mulching around your strawberry plants with fresh straw (not hay which can collect slugs) also protects the strawberries a little from slugs and keeps them off the wet soil that will damage the fruit.
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