Strawberries are an easy fruit to grow provide you have a sunny site that is ideally protected from the wind. There are three main types of strawberry – summer fruiting, everbears and alpine. Summer fruiting strawberries can be split into early, mid and late season varieties. Everbears fruit on and off throughout the summer months. There are also varieties of everbear that have few runners, making them ideal for containers and hanging baskets.
Choosing your strawberry patch:
Choose a site that has sun for most of the day, is protected from wind (as it prevents pollinating insects from reaching the flowers) and has moist, but free draining soil. Another fact to consider is frost – because strawberries produce flowers early in the Spring and because they are close to the ground, it is important to position strawberries where they have least risk of frost. The highest ground is always the best. Another way of avoiding frost damage is to use a cloche or poly-tunnel.
Strawberries are greedy feeders, so incorporate as much organic matter as possible into your patch and include two handfuls of bonemeal per square metre (yard). If you have poor soil they can also be grown in containers, hanging baskets or growing-bags.
Planting your strawberries:
The traditional time for planting strawberries is in the Autumn as it gives young, new runners plenty of time in warm, wet weather to establish before flowering in spring. Pot grown strawberries can be planted all year round provided the soil is not frozen or waterlogged. Plant out your strawberries 35cm (14’’) apart. If planting more than one row, space rows 75cm (30’’) apart. Once fruits begin to form, mulch the crop with straw or a fibre mulch mat to keep moisture in the soil and soil off the fruit.
Strawberry plants should ideally be replaced every 3 years, after this period fruits become small and the plants pick up virus and disease that often stunt the crop.
Early Summer Strawberries: Early Season strawberry varieties usually begin fruiting in late spring, they include varieties such as Honeoye
Mid Summer Strawberries: These generally begin producing approximately 8 - 10 days after Early Season strawberries. Varieties include Hapil & Elsanta
Late Summer Strawberries: These varieties begin their berry production about 14 days after the Early Season strawberries. They include varieties such as Florence