How To Grow Strawberries
By Linda Paquette, Fri Dec 9th
How to Grow Strawberries
In addition to the traditional strawberry patch, there are asmany ways to grow strawberries as there are to eat them! Growstrawberries in a bed, hydroponically, as a ground cover, as anornamental patio plant, or in a hanging basket.
Strawberry Categories
An important part of knowing how to grow strawberries isunderstanding how different types of strawberries grow.Strawberry cultivars are placed in one of three categories.•June bearing strawberries produce a large, voluptuous crop ofberries in late spring. Mother plants send out runners(daughters) that root and develop into matted rows. Thedisadvantage to June bearing strawberries is 1) they only bearfruit once a year and 2) the first year you need to pluck allblossoms from your plants to let them become firmly established.•Ever bearing strawberries really aren’t “ever” bearing, but doproduce a harvest twice a year, once in spring and again inautumn. During the first year, pluck all blossoms fromever-bearing cultivars through the end of June. After that, theywill blossom again and set fruit for a fall harvest. •Dayneutral strawberries frequently produce a crop of small, butvery sweet berries throughout most of the growing season. Afterplucking off the first set of blossoms allow the fruit to setand you’ll have strawberries throughout the summer!
The Versatile Alpine Strawberry
The Alpine Strawberry is a cousin of the wild strawberry and isvery much at home lining a path or walk way. In fact, the onlystrawberry that is regularly started from seed, the Alpinestrawberry is a day neutral cultivar that makes an excellentground cover with headily fragrant blossoms and very tasty redor white strawberries. The Alpine Strawberry reseeds profuselyfrom its own strawberry seeds and bears fruit throughout thegrowing season.
Buying Strawberries for Transplanting
The best time to purchase strawberry plants is autumn. Find endof season plants at dirt-cheap prices or order new plants forspring delivery. In addition, your nursery may offer wholesalestrawberry plants packed in bundles containing as few as 25plants. Nurseries have limited space and often take orders forwholesale plants on a first-come, first-served basis.Frequently, their stock is depleted long before spring.
Most strawberry cultivars over-winter if kept cool in a rootcellar, unheated
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