Strawberry Care Guide | The English Garden

Who doesn’t love strawberries, especially when grown at home? These delicious fruits have a distinct summer flavor and are easy to grow, and with proper care, should continue to grow after the main harvest.

There are three types of strawberries. The most well known are summer strawberriesthe most commonly grown variety. They produce a heavy harvest over 2-3 weeks in early summer, with some varieties bearing fruit earlier than others. Conversely, strawberry fruit continuously grown for a much longer period in the summer and even in the fall. Although the harvest is less and the fruit is smaller than that of summer crops, these are useful plants.

Alpine (or wild) strawberries quite different. They are much smaller, and produce small but strongly flavoured, often red, fruits. They make excellent ornamental ground covers in light shade, most types producing numerous runners that carry a mass of seedlings. These plants do not need replanting very often.

1. Remove any loose protective covering (usually straw, but also includes mats and strawberry collars) used to protect the fruit. This will aid airflow and give the plant room to grow.

2. Once harvested, the plant will focus on growing runners that spread across the soil. Most of these runners can simply be pruned to keep the bed tidy, but if you need to replace any damaged plants, fill in gaps in the row, or add new beds, you can use them for propagation now (see below).

3. Likewise, remove any protective netting. This is no longer needed and will make the plant easier to access for regular watering and maintenance. This also means that birds can get to the plant to pick off pests.

4. Keep a clean area around your plants, removing weeds and any dead or dying strawberry leaves. Summer varieties can have old leaves removed to promote fresh new growth immediately after picking the last berries.

Strawberry plants are short-lived. They will typically produce a good harvest for about three years, but some will die or succumb to disease sooner than that and you will need to replace them to keep your strawberry patch producing good yields.

You have two options: grow your own runners or buy new plants via mail order when bundles of runners become available for planting in September. This may be worth doing if you like the idea of ​​trying another option, perhaps for a longer harvest period. If for some reason you miss the opportunity to plant in the fall, another opportunity will come in the spring when specially treated runners become available. These ‘cold-stored’ plants will produce fruit about two months after planting.

Fortunately, propagating your own new plants from creeping cuttings is easy. This is a task best done in August when the seedlings appear at the end of long, rope-like stems that extend across the soil surface. You can leave it to chance and simply dig up and replant the adventitious rooted seedlings, but if you need to rejuvenate your seedlings, it’s better to be more systematic in a few simple steps:

1. Calculate how many new plants you need and pour an appropriate amount of multipurpose compost into the small pots.

2. Place them next to the mother plant, pressing them gently into the soil.

3. Take the branches and pin a seedling into the pot. Secure by cutting the wire to form a pin. Push it into the compost to hold the seedling in place.

4. Water the young plants regularly and they will begin to root. Once the plants are established in their pots, cut them from the mother plant.

5. Plant out in their final location in September, removing any debris from failed plants and checking the soil for pests such as beetles. Dig in garden compost to give them a head start.

If you are growing perennial strawberries, remove the first flush of flowers that appear the following summer to ensure the plants are well established before harvesting begins. You may also need to do this with summer-bearing varieties if they look weak. Flowers grown from cold-stored stems should be left intact.

Under ideal conditions in well-drained, fertile soil, strawberries can usually produce well in the same location for up to 4-5 years. Some plants may begin to die sooner than this and need to be replaced. As with any plant, if problems begin to appear regularly, it is best to start over in a new location with fresh plants.

Select a site with well-drained, fertile soil, preferably acid. The beds should be in full sun, although light shade can still produce reasonable yields. They should be open, with good air circulation to reduce disease problems but not too open as this may kill pollinating insects. Avoid frost pockets as late frosts will damage or wipe out the plants.

Land preparation by digging in well-rotted manure or garden compost. If you are planting in the spring, you can add high-potassium granular feeds such as blood, fish, and bone.

Decide how to plant, Usually people choose to plant in rows, although there is no rule. However, leave 40cm between plants and if planting in rows, at least 70cm apart to allow for a good harvest.

Place the plant carefully. The base (center of the plant) should be at ground level. If it is too low in the soil, the plant may rot, if it is too high, the plant will dry out. Water the plant well and keep it moist until the roots are established.

• Strawberries are a favourite food for many birds, so you’ll need to protect your plants if you want to ensure a good harvest. At fruiting time, you can hang netting from bamboo poles – yoghurt pots on top of the poles will stop the netting slipping. Keep the netting as taut as possible as birds can get trapped – check regularly. Better yet, invest in a fruit cage.

• Consider planting through a soil cover to help retain water and prevent weeds. This can also reduce pest problems.

• Watering is important, especially in dry weather or with young plants, but these plants are also susceptible to disease if they get too wet. Botrytis can rot the plant and fruit, so try to water around them rather than on them, and do this in the morning so that the moisture evaporates before the cool of the evening.

• Straw is traditionally mulched with straw to help retain soil moisture while drawing water away from the plant, especially as the fruit can rot if it comes into contact with the soil. This is done just before flowering to avoid damaging the flowers. Modern alternatives include mats and collars.

• As the plants begin to grow in spring, add a little balanced fertilizer like Growmore to boost vigour, then to encourage flowering and fruiting, start feeding with a high potassium fertilizer like Blood, Fish and Bone, or use a liquid tomato fertilizer every week or two.