Growing the strawberry plant, and doing it yourself will not only save money, it will provide your family with a bounty of delicious fruit that is much tastier fresh from the garden.
Strawberries rank among our most favorite fruits. Extremely versatile and easy to come by, they have become a staple in our diets and in our culture. It's not hard to grow your own strawberries, and doing it yourself will not only save money, it will provide your family with a bounty of delicious fruit that is much tastier fresh from the garden.
Strawberry plants are usually available in the spring, in the form of "bare root" plants or those already growing in pots. Planting "bare root" will usually be less expensive, and there is a good selection available from mail-order catalogs. There are three basic types to choose from: June-bearing, ever-bearing, and alpine. June-bearing strawberries provide a big crop of large, sweet berries during a short time each year. Ever-bearing varieties produce berries in a smaller quantity throughout the summer months. Alpine varieties yield a smaller quantity of tiny, flavorful berries.
Prepare the soil as you would for any plant, adding amendments to make it rich and loose. If planting bare-root plants, place them in the soil, after danger of frost is past, with just the tip of the plant peeking above the ground. Within a couple of months, they will have lots of leaves and will begin to flower. However, strawberry plants are perennials and will not yield as well in subsequent years if allowed to produce fruit the first year after planting. Pinch off each flower as it forms and resign yourself to the long wait till next summer. It'll be worth the wait!
In late summer, your strawberry plants will be well-established and will want to multiply by sending out runners. You have a choice now - you can snip off the runners and confine your plants to neat rows, thereby increasing yields from established plants, or let them have a free-for-all and cover the ground with their lovely serrated foliage. They do tend to spread, so it may take some effort to keep them from running under neighboring plants or into the yard beyond the bed.
When cold weather threatens and leaves begin to turn brown, it's time to cover the strawberry bed with a mulch of shredded leaves, straw, or dried grass clippings. Don't worry about the leaves, it's the roots that matter. In the spring, you'll be rewarded with new growth and soon, berries! Birds, squirrels, and other wildlife can be a problem, though. You'll probably need to string a mesh net over the strawberry bed, or devise another sort of deterrent. It can be very frustrating to watch the berries develop, only to find them gone the moment they start to turn red!
A well-maintained strawberry patch will produce delicious berries for several years. When production begins to decline (usually after four or five years) it's time to re-plant in a different location. This can be done by planting runners from the existing patch, but the safest method is to obtain new strawberry plants, and should be done in a separate area from the old bed to discourage diseases.
It's no mystery why the strawberry plant is a common theme in folk art and decorations. Simple and very rewarding to grow, a patch of strawberries can provide snacks and desserts for your family for minimal cost. No matter what variety you choose, if you take care of the plants they'll be around next year for a repeat performance.
