[Gardening] How To Grow The Sweetest Strawberries
Sweetest strawberries this season, still cozy from the garden, top character’s food selection of fine treats. Merely a couple of rows of plants will load your fruit dish and freezer, even after you deduct the samples you sneak while selecting. By growing different assortments, you could delight in the lush bounty of a strawberry patch from spring season until fall-frost. Here are ideas for ways to grow strawberries in your yard!
Strawberry Types
The three main types of strawberries are June-bearing, everbearing, and day-neutral. June-bearing strawberries, such as ‘Shuksan’, grow well in Zones 6-10, but some varieties are better for your local conditions than others. Choose the variety by checking with your local extension office, or go to your local farmer’s market in June, buy several kinds, and perform your own taste test. And keep in mind that June-bearers will produce their crop earlier in warm climates — you could be eating berries in April.
In Zones 6-8 (except for hot, humid areas), you can learn how to grow strawberries that are everbearing (also called day-neutral). Everbearing types, such as ‘Quinault’, produce two crops — one in June and one in September — so they aren’t really everbearing (who thought up that label?). Day-neutral types, such as ‘Tristar’, will produce from June to September, a continual but smaller crop.
June-bearing varieties are often recommended for short-season northern gardens; they offer a bigger summer bounty than everbearers, but plants stop fruiting after the first harvest.
No matter what type of strawberry you grow, select a spot in full sun and that has moist, well-drained soil. Spade soil to a depth of 8-10 inches, working in plenty of compost or well-rotted manure.
The techniques for how to grow strawberries with the greatest success come from starting with new plants bought from a reputable nursery, not plants passed along from a friend’s garden. Strawberry plants decrease in vigor after a few years, and they are susceptible to diseases, so it’s best to start fresh — not with hand-me-downs. In fact, your whole bed should be replaced every four or five years.
Choose a sunny, well-drained site, and dig in compost and an all-purpose organic fertilizer. Plant June-bearers in early spring in rows 4 feet apart, setting the plants 2 feet apart. The mother plants make plantlets that will hop around on runners and root. These will fill the rows and create a mat — let them fill up a 2-foot-wide space, keeping room between the rows for access. For everbearing and day-neutral types, clip off those runners and only maintain the original plants.
For more information visit Grow Strawberries
Image Source: David Lenker
