Learn How to Grow a Strawberry Patch that Produces Berries Year After Year with easy tips for harvesting homegrown fruits all season.
Growing a strawberry patch at home is simple and rewarding. By following the right setup and a few easy steps, you can enjoy fresh, juicy strawberries all season long. Read in detail How to Grow a Strawberry Patch that Produces Berries Year After Year in this post.
How to Grow Strawberry Patch that Produces Berries Year After Year
Growing a Strawberry Patch
After tasting the sun-ripened berries, you will never like watery commercial cultivars again. Well, it’s not difficult to start your own strawberry patch; just set the groundwork this spring and harvest soft ruby-red berries in the growing season.
Choose the Best Variety
Strawberries flourish in USDA Zones 3-10, most of them are divided into two groups; June-bearing and ever-bearing.
June Bearing: It includes Chandler, Douglas, All-Star, Sequoia, Jewel, Mojave, and Seascape. This variety produces all fruits over a 3-4 week period during the early summer. The berries taste great in jams and other recipes.
Ever-Bearing: It offers a moderately small harvest across the whole summer, making it a perfect choice for those who want to enjoy fresh berries all season. However, you’ll be required to harvest fruit every few days. This variety produces smaller and less juicy fruits than June-bearing. You can grow this variety in pots as they are more compact. A few of the best varieties are Alpine, Eversweet, Festival, Albione, and Ozark.
Note: You can mix both varieties to enjoy their distinct qualities.
How Many Strawberry Plants in a Patch?
It will be great to calculate how many quarts you will need in advance, so plan accordingly. Schedule to harvest approx. 1-2 quarts of berries each June-bearing and a bit less for ever-bearing. Avoid planting too few plants in the first year; strawberries are great self-propagators; hence, it is easy to expand your patch eventually.
Preparing the Soil for Strawberry Plants
After choosing the variety, prepare the patch. Select an area with full sun and well-draining soil with a pH between 5.5-7.5.
Ideally, test the soil quality of the location before planting so you have time to amend it by adding lime (for raising the pH) or sulfur to reduce it.
Find a warm location without the danger of frost that didn’t damage the blooms. Strawberries have shallow roots, they require rich well-draining soil.
Double-dig the ground, and amend with well-rotted compost before planting. Use one 5-gallon bucket of compost per 10 plants.
Note: Strawberries grow well when planted together but keep them away from other plant varieties. Keep them distant from roses as the related plants share diseases.
Planting Strawberry Crowns
Plant strawberry plants during early spring; however, they can tolerate fall plantings in areas with mild winters.
Note: Strawberries are low-lying plants that can be easily overrun by weeds. To avoid this, lay landscape fabric over the bed and make a cut-out hole for every plant.
Prepare the Plants
Strawberries will come as bare-root bundles, keep them cool before planting, store in a damp towel, and put in the refrigerator before planting in the patch. For best results, soak the bare roots in a bucket filled with water for up to 15-20 minutes. Cut off any roots longer than 4 inches.
Plant All Crown
Pile the soil up a few inches in rows and make holes within the mounds, spacing 18-24 inches apart. Keep in mind that compact beds are comparatively better than long rows as they can be covered with bird netting. Try to keep them narrow to make harvesting and weeding amenable without trampling them. The point where roots connect to the main stem is known as the ‘crown’; leaves and blooms grow from this position.
Remember that covering the crown in soil may rot the entire plant. Keeping it high above the soil can dry it. Put one plant in each hole, with the crown facing upward, and spread out the roots so they have sufficient space.
Press the soil gently.
Note: You can secure netting to the sides on raised beds and protect the berries from rodents and birds.
Water and Mulch
Water the patch just after planting and monitor the soil moisture for the next few weeks. Provide one inch of water every week, but it is better to water the plant when the soil appears dry.
Mulching will reduce evaporation; you can apply straw, wood, or grass. This protective layer keeps the strawberries off the ground and safeguards them from slugs and soil dwellers.
Note: For potted strawberries, water more often as pots dry out rapidly. Also, feed the plant with high phosphorus fertilizer for encouraging root growth and flower production.
What to do in the First-Year Growth?
In a few weeks, the leaves and flowers will begin to appear on the strawberry plant. Pluck off the first flowers before they form fruit. This will help the plant set all its energy into root production, and you’ll get a healthy plant with great fruit potential for the next year.
Leave one batch of blossoms in place if the plants are healthy over the end of June. In the second year of growth, you can harvest berries from your plant. Apply liquid seaweed concentrate to the plants every two weeks when blooms emerge, it will promote production.
Harvesting Strawberries
Start harvesting strawberries as they become bright red, it will be great to pick them up in the morning before the temperature warm-up and refrigerate the berries immediately. Store them dry and wash the fruit just before eating. When berries begin to redden, examine your plants daily, as they will spoil fast on the plant.
To protect the berries from the attack of birds, rodents, and other garden creatures, hang bird netting, and aluminum pie pans around the berries patch perimeter, you can also paint the rocks in red color that represents fake fruit.
Maintaining Strawberry Beds Long Term
Strawberries are perennial, to maintain their health for the long term cut back the plants at the end of the fruiting season. This will help in getting a strong root system and promote new growth for next summer. Cut the plant to soil height.
When the weather begins to cool in early fall, topdress the mature plants using a rich compost mix. Cover them with six inches of shredded leaves, pine needles, or fresh hay that will work as an insulator over the winter. Let this layer stay until early spring.
Once given a good start, these plants offer fruits for five years. After this, it will be better to replace the original plants with the runners as they will continue production higher.
Remove the established part of the strawberry plant and transplant small offshoots alternately. This will keep the strawberry bed maintained, and you’ll get a great harvest every year.