Strawberries are easy to grow and a fun crop to grow with children. Plant strawberry runners or young plants in spring or autumn, and you’ll be rewarded with masses of delicious strawberries from late spring.
If you plan to enter the world of growing fruit, strawberries are one of the easiest fruit to grow and great for beginners. Plus, homegrown strawberries are far more flavorful than what you’ll ever find in a grocery store. Why? The sugar in berries converts to starch soon after it’s picked. Learn more about growing strawberries in the home garden.
The good news is that strawberries are relatively easy to grow if you keep them in a location that gets full sun.
How to grow strawberries at home
Grow strawberries in a well-prepared strawberry bed or strawberry planter, in full sun. Add plenty of well-rotted horse manure or garden compost. Choose ‘ever-bearing’ strawberries, which fruit continually all summer, or choose a number of different strawberry varieties that fruit in succession. This will give you a long season of delicious, juicy strawberries from late May to autumn.
1. Simply by removing the runners at the base of the plant, you will produce much more, because when there are no runners, the plant can produce more nutrients that will yield more. Just dig around the plant and pull the runners out!
2. It is important to choose a cultivar that is known to produce a large berry crop. Most gardeners say that short-day varieties give the most strawberries.
3. A bed of strawberries. A strawberry pallet planter is a clever idea to grow plants like strawberries that spread through runners; it also improves the productivity of this fruit. Pallets are cheap and sturdy; you can use them to create a raised bed like structure.
4. Mulch is necessary because as it decomposes it will feed your plants and prevent grass and weed from growing with your strawberries.
5. Keep strawberries safe from birds and other critters.
Troubleshooting
Slugs often chew holes in strawberries just as they begin to ripen. Organic mulches such as straw encourage slugs, so where slugs are a problem, a plastic mulch helps.
In summer, several fungal diseases cause dark spots to form on leaves. Clipping or mowing strawberry foliage and raking it away in summer can interrupt the life cycles of some strawberry pests and diseases. By far the worst pests of strawberries are birds. To keep robins, brown thrashers, and other fruit-eaters from stealing your berries, cover the plants with lightweight bird netting when the berries begin to ripen.
Sometimes your fruit may be small because of heat and drought. Once you start watering and the weather improves, the new fruit should be of normal size.
Harvesting strawberries
Once strawberries have been picked, the ripening process stops. So, wait until the berries are fully red before harvesting. Simply pinch through the stalks with your finger and thumb to avoid bruising the fruit.
Storing strawberries
As strawberries are perishable, it’s best to eat them straight from the plant, ideally still warm from the sun. You can store unwashed fruit for a few days in the fridge. If you’re lucky enough to have a glut, whizz them into delicious smoothies or use to make jam. Some varieties are suitable for freezing.