How to Grow Strawberries

Posted on August 6th, 2009 by Carmelia

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Strawberries are a great crop to grow for beginner gardeners. Strawberries are spring plants, and produce fruits pretty quickly. Enjoy the first fruit of the season using these steps.

Materials

Young strawberry plants
Fertilizers
Mulch
Shovels
Watering can
Rototiller
Garden shears

Procedure

Buy strawberry plants from a reputable nursery. Make sure that they are certified disease-free to lessen the chances of your crop dying out or any virus spreading to your other plants.

strawberries

Look for a place where you can plant your strawberries. Ideally, it should get full sun and a gentle south-facing slope. Well-drained soil is also a must. An acidity of 5.5 to 6.5 is required when it comes to growing strawberries. If you have no such location, you can plant strawberries in raised beds or containers instead, with a soil type meeting the requirements for growing strawberries. (Tips on how to make plant containers)
Till the planting bed around 12 inches deep. Remove weeds and grass. Mix compost to ensure that your strawberries grow well.
For each plant, you must dig a hole five to seven inches wide and deep enough to accommodate the roots comfortably. Plant the strawberry plant so that the crown is just a little over the top. Make sure the roots are completely buried.
Plant the strawberry shrubs 18 inches apart with rows three to four feet apart. The space will encourage the shrubs to send out runners, and with each runner comes more strawberries.
Water the strawberry shrubs at least an inch of water weekly.
Mulching will help conserve the moisture and keep the weeds away. (For more information regarding Mulch, read The guide to Mulch)
Maintain the spaces and keep the crop healthy by removing the outermost plants from each side of each row after every harvest. You can either do this by snipping, digging out the attached plants, or using a mechanical tiller.
Leave the newer plants and remove the older plants to encourage more growth each season.
Cut off runners when they appear to encourage the plants to focus their energies on bearing fruit.
In the first year of growing strawberries, avoid letting any fruit develop. Yes, prevent it. Pick off each strawberry blossom you see. This will ensure a stronger strawberry shrub the next year and the years after, all producing fruit. Producing fruit in the first year may give you smaller yields in the following years or the plants giving out completely.
Pick strawberries as soon as they ripen. Strawberries tend to spoil quickly on and off the vine as soon as they are ripe.