How to Grow Strawberries

Planting Strawberries

Although it is possible to grow strawberries from seed, we don’t recommend it unless you are prepared to be patient, as they do not normally produce fruit in their first year. Instead, we recommend buying established plants or “bare roots” available from a nursery. Bare roots are the root and crown portion of a mature strawberry plant, which you simply soaked and then plant in your garden.

In early spring, plant bare roots or nursery plants in small to medium sized pots, spacing them at least 6″ apart. Do not plant too deeply, otherwise the crown may rot and cause your plants to die. The crown (or nodule where the root meets the stems of the plant) should be at soil level, not below.

To eliminate the guesswork in selecting the right size containers for your plants, we’ve put together a list of commonly grown herbs, veggies, fruit and flowers along with the minimum pot sizes required by each.

Starting a container garden? Grab my free guide on choosing the best sized pots for each veggie, fruit, and herb in your container garden – Veggie Garden Potting Guide

 

Watering Strawberries

Keep well watered. Water when the top 1″ of soil is dry to the touch.

 

Where Can I Grow It?

Grow strawberries outdoors in a sunny location.

 

Strawberry Growing Tips

Strawberry plants come in 3 types:

1. June Bearing: The traditional strawberry, these plants flower and produce one large crop of fruit in late spring/early summer.
2. Ever Bearing: This type produces two or three crops of fruit through the spring, summer and autumn, until frost kills them off for the winter. However, these plants produce less fruit overall than the June-bearing varieties.
3. Day-Neutral: A type of ever-bearing strawberry, these plants produce fruit on a continual basis through summer and fall as long a temperatures stay above freezing. However, these plants produce less fruit overall than the June-bearing varieties.

Removing ‘runners’ throughout the season will cause the plant to put more energy back into producing fruit.

When the growing season is over, cut plants down to one inch above the soil and cover with 4″ inches of straw, pine needles or other organic material. This will protect strawberries from hard freezes in the winter. Remove mulch layer again in the spring.

 

Companion Planting

It is beneficial to grow strawberries along with lettuce, beans, green onions, spinach, sage and thyme. Growing strawberries next to thyme is especially helpful as thyme helps strawberries to grow more quickly.

Avoid planting along with anything in the Brassicas family, such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts. This is because strawberry plants inhibit the growth of plants in this family.

In addition, you should avoid planting strawberries near plants that are susceptible to the verticillium disease, because strawberries are easily infected and it can spread to them from other plants if you’re not careful. Verticillium susceptible plants include: tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, and peppers.