Strawberries are way better fresh. It's pretty much an indisputable fact, unless you prefer tart, mealy or tough berries. And we all know the freshest food is grown in your back yard. (Or front yard.) Strawberries lend themselves very nicely to home gardens or even container gardens.
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| Rogue Valley Gardener |
Like everything else that bears fruit, strawberries like fertile, well-drained soil in a full-sun location. Plenty of broken down compost and organic matter in the soil is important (which promotes good drainage in addition to providing nutrients for the plants to grow). They shouldn't share soil with members of the Nightshade (solanaceae) family due to their susceptibility to the same pests and diseases.
Types of Berries
June-bearers: They just produce one crop, in August. KIDDING! In June. This type puts out a lot of runners (above-ground "roots" or stems from which new plants can sprout and root--think blackberries).
Everbearing: Contrary to what the name indicates, this variety produces one crop of berries in June and one crop in the fall. Everbearers don't produce many runners.
Day-neutral: This type produces fruit all season long, except when it gets really hot out. Then they take a break. Day-neutrals don't produce lots of runners.
Meet Your Match
So how do you choose which variety is right for you? June-bearers usually put out a pretty massive crop, sometimes the same as what you'd get all season from a day-neutral. Planting day-neutrals PLUS everbearers or June-bearers will give you a supply of fresh berries all season. However, the OSU Extension notes that nurseries frequently label day-neutral plants "everbearers" along with the real everbearers, so you'll have to ask about it, and maybe chance it.
Talk to someone at your nursery about which cultivars will work best for you, depending on your berry needs, where you're planting and other factors unique to your situation.
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How to Plant June-Bearers
If you've chosen to plant June-bearers, the normal way to plant is a setup called "matted rows." Here's how that works: you plant your plants 15 or so inches apart in rows separated by a few feet. The plants will produce runners, and you'll have to stay on top of them and keep them generally in line with the already-planted plants. If you don't keep track of the runners, you'll just end up with a matted strawberry patch, which makes picking kind of difficult. By the end of the first season, each matted row will be filled in and in the neighborhood of a foot and a half wide (or as wide as you let the runners root).
Don't let your matted rows get too dense. Prune a bit if you need to. When any plant is grown too close to another plant, it keeps air from flowing properly and can promote pests, diseases and rot.
How to Plant Everbearers and Day-Neutrals
The hill method is generally used for these two types, but you can also use it for June-bearers if you want to chop off all the runners they produce. The hill method is simple: hill up some dirt into rows. Rows can be as far apart or close together as you find convenient. Plant your strawberry plants about a foot apart on the ridge of your hilled rows. Remove any runners that show up.
With either variety, you want to plant so the crown (just above the roots) is out of the ground, but none of the roots are showing.
Watering and Care Early On
Fertilizing is unnecessary unless your plants are looking yellow or pathetic. In that case, lightly hit them with a balanced fertilizer every few weeks. (If they're healthy, leave 'em alone.) Since strawberries have shallow roots, they need regular watering totaling an inch to an inch and a half per week. Don't keep then soaked, and don't let them dry out.
Fertilizing and Care Later
June-bearers should be fertilized in August to promote growth for the next season when you "renovate" the rows. Renovation involves whacking the plants back to two inches abouve the crown, pulling out old or otherwise not-spectacular-looking plants and generally getting things in order. The Extension recommends shooting for five to six plants per square foot of row.
Everbearers and day-neutrals should be fertilized every few weeks through their second season in the ground. The year any strawberry is planted is not usually a very fruitful harvest, but rather time to get established, so the following year is berry delicious.
Other Good Info
Strawberry patches give three to four years of good fruit production. If you pay attention to when you plant, you can start a new bunch of rows the same year that the current patch is on its way out, so you don't skip your home-grown strawberries.
Strawberries do have some pest and disease foes. These include aphids, root weevils, crown moths, Botrytis fruit rot, and Verticillium wilt (and others...always). That's why it's important to buy disease-free, certified berries from a good nursery.
Have you grown strawberries? What has your experience been?
