Strawberries are one of the most popular fruits, with 92% of households in the United States reporting buying them.
Their sweet, juicy flavor makes them perfect for snacking, desserts, smoothies, and more. The best part is that strawberries are quite easy to grow at home for bountiful harvests from spring to fall.
This comprehensive guide to growing strawberries covers everything from choosing ideal varieties, preparing soil, planting, caring for your plants, troubleshooting issues, harvesting ripe berries, and keeping your strawberry patch producing year after year.
Arm yourself with the knowledge below to grow your own delicious, candy-like berries that burst with complex flavors that store-bought strawberries can never compete with.
Growing luscious red strawberries at home is very achievable, even for novice gardeners, with the right guidance.
This article details optimal strawberry growing methods through every season.
Why Grow Strawberries?
Strawberries available at the grocery store are often bred for uniform shape, big size, and the ability to ship well, not flavor.
Homegrown strawberries harvested straight from your garden at perfect ripeness burst with sweetness and complex flavor notes that commercial berries can never compete with.
Learn Gardening as a Rewarding Hobby
Strawberry growing is the perfect entry point into gardening. Strawberry plants are versatile, low-maintenance, and bear fruit quickly compared to other fruits.
Seeing plump red berries peeking out from lush green leaves just weeks after planting gives new gardeners near-instant gratification and motivation to expand their green thumb skills.
Strawberries Provide Many Health Benefits
These red gems provide an excellent source of vitamin C, manganese, folate, potassium, and antioxidants.
In fact, eight medium-sized berries provide more vitamin C than an orange! With potent anti-inflammatory and blood pressure-regulating abilities, strawberries boost immunity and heart health.
Fun Outdoor Activity with Kids
Children love hunting for ripe strawberries to pop straight into their mouths.
Strawberry growing teaches kids where food comes from while getting them outdoors and exploring nature.
Have kids help plant starts in spring, then maintain the mini-patch together by watering, weeding around plants, and protecting ripening berries from birds with nets.
Come harvest time, reward them with sugary treats made from the berries they helped nurture, from seedlings to fruits.
Clearly, homegrown strawberries win hands-down for flavor and fun. Keep reading to learn how to plant these jewels for summers overflowing with juicy berries.
Where to Plant Strawberries
When considering where to place your strawberry-growing patch, keep these optimal conditions in mind:
Sunlight
Strawberries need at least 6 hours of direct, full sun daily. Make sunlight your top priority, finding the sunniest spots your yard or garden offers.
More hours of sun exposure means more sugary flavor!
Soil
Well-drained, nutrient-rich soil keeps your plants happy and healthy. Strawberries thrive in slightly acidic soil around 5.5 to 6.5 pH.
Test your soil pH and amend it with elemental sulfur if it is too alkaline. Mix in several inches of aged compost or well-rotted manure before planting to enrich the soil.
Raised Beds
Raised garden beds provide superior drainage and soil quality control compared to planting directly in the ground.
The extra airflow and drainage help prevent diseases and encourage healthy root development.
Fill your raised bed with high-quality potting mix blended with compost for raised bed strawberry growing success.
Now that you know the ideal conditions for robust strawberry plants, assess the spots around your outdoor space.
Find locations that receive lots of sunshine with quality soil, then enhance them further with raised beds and soil amendments.
Proper planting site preparation fuels successful strawberry growth from the start.
When to Plant Strawberries
Deciding when strawberries start to go into the ground depends on whether you want to harvest ripe, red berries in the first season of growth or the following year.
For Summer Harvests The Same Year
If enjoying homegrown strawberries ASAP is your goal, plant your starts in the spring once the danger of frost has passed.
This gives young plants time to establish roots through summer before fruiting in late summer or early fall of the same year.
Those in northern climates with short growing seasons should choose “everbearing” or “day neutral” strawberry varieties to get fruit regardless of decreasing daylight hours.
For Spring and Summer Harvests The Next Year
You’ll get higher yields and bigger strawberries the year after planting if you get young bare root plants or plugs in the ground in the early fall.
Their roots grow and strengthen through the winter before taking off once soil temperatures rise in the spring.
Fruit buds appear shortly after renewed growth in spring for juicy berries by late May or June.
This method gives plants a head start on continuing to grow a robust root system and more overall growth than spring planting.
Now that you know timing best practices, decide which harvest window works for your growing zone, and then plan spring or fall planting accordingly.
Preparing Soil for Planting
Robust, healthy strawberry plants start with high-quality soil.
Preparing the planting area properly primes plants to establish deep roots and access nutrients critical for productive fruiting.
Enrich Soil with Organic Matter
Mix aged compost, rotted manure, leaf mold, or coco coir throughout the top 12 inches of soil before planting.
These organic materials provide nutrients while improving moisture retention and drainage. Blend in more organic matter for light, sandy soils lacking fertility.
pH Level Matters
Test the soil pH, as strawberries thrive best within the slightly acidic range of 5.5–6.5. Use an at-home soil test kit or send a sample to your local agricultural extension office for thorough testing guidance.
Ground lime raises pH in acidic soils. On the other hand, elemental sulfur makes soil more acidic when pH creeps above 6.5.
Address Drainage Issues
Excess moisture suffocates roots, leading to decline and disease.
Fill in low, wet areas or create raised beds to improve drainage so water never puddles.
With enriched, pH-balanced soil boasting good drainage, you eliminate two of the most common obstacles to productive plants. Now your strawberry patch is ready for planting.
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Guide to Growing Strawberries: Step-by-Step
Once your ideal planting site is prepped, it’s time to get strawberry starts in the ground.
Choose from bare root plants, plugs, or potted starts from your local nursery or an online retailer.
Strawberry Plant Spacing
Give plants room to spread out. Space rows 3 to 4 feet apart, with 12 to 18 inches between plants in all directions if planting multiple rows.
Dig Holes for Transplants
Use a trowel to dig holes the width of the root ball and deep enough so the crown (the part where stems begin) sits level with the soil surface. Take care not to plant too deep.
Place Plant & Fill In
Spread the roots out evenly, keeping the crown exposed. Fill the hole with the surrounding soil, gently firming the soil around the plant with your hands.
Leave a slight depression so water pools there.
Water Transplants
Gently water until the soil is moist but not soaked. Avoid splashing water onto leaves, which spreads disease.
Follow this straightforward planting process for all starts. In just minutes, your productive patch is planted and on its way to bearing sweet berries!
Now focus efforts on caring for your new starts so they grow into robust mother plants.
Caring for Growing Strawberry Plants
Keep your strawberry patch thriving with excellent growing conditions and attentive care throughout the season.
Robust plants yield more bountiful, flavorsome berries year after year.
Mulch After Planting
Spread 2-3 inches of organic mulch, like pine straw, shredded leaves, or wood chips, over the soil surrounding plants.
This retains moisture, so you water less, prevents weeds, and keeps fruits clean once they start ripening.
Water: 1-2 Times Weekly
Establish deep, extensive roots by saturating the soil to 6 inches of depth weekly if rain is lacking. Less frequent deep watering strengthens plants better than frequent light sprinkler systems, which keep the soil constantly damp.
Allow the soil to partially dry out between watering.
Feed with Balanced Fertilizer
Work an all-purpose organic fertilizer into the entire bed monthly once blooming begins. Avoid high-nitrogen formulas, which cause excess leaf growth, rather than flowers and fruits.
By mulching, monitoring soil moisture, and fertilizing, you fuel vigorous, thriving strawberry plants that reward you with incredibly sweet berries.
Ongoing Plant Care Tips
Keep your strawberry-growing patch productive year after year with proper care as plants establish and fruit.
Follow these best practices once transplants are in the ground:
Prune Runners
Strawberry plants send out long runners, producing baby daughter plants.
Prune some runners to focus the mother plant’s energy into developing delicious fruits rather than excessive new plants.
But allow some runners to root to replace old plants.
Protect Flowers from Frost
Shield early blossoms from frost damage threatening precious fruit potential using fabric row covers.
Drape the breathable fabric directly over plants, securing the edges with stones, boards, or landscape staples when cold nights threaten. Remove during the daytime.
Bird Protection
prevents hungry birds from stealing all your berries before you harvest any! Cover ripening strawberry patches with bird netting secured tightly to the ground so crafty birds can’t sneak underneath.
Spot Treat Diseases and Pests
Catch issues early by frequently checking under leaves and fruit for common culprits like spider mites, aphids, powdery mildew, and leaf spot.
Remove affected leaves immediately and spray neem oil or insecticidal soap targeting the specific pest.
With attentive care, your home strawberry growing patch flourishes, delivering bountiful fruit for years on end. Stay tuned for tips on knowing perfect picking ripeness!
How do I Harvest Strawberries?
Determining prime ripeness for plump, juicy strawberries takes some practice. Look for these indicators that strawberries are ready for picking:
Size
Berries reach full size before turning completely red. Monitor growth, allowing fruit to swell to variety-specific dimensions if less than the ideal eating size. Wait longer for fuller flavor development.
Shine
Unripe strawberries appear dull. A glossy sheen signals ripening sugars within. The redder they get, the shinier the skin.
Color
Green berries are immature, while full-red indicates ripeness. However, the perfect picking shade differs slightly between varieties. June-bearing strawberries reach peak flavor when 75% red. Everbearers should be 90% red.
Ease of Separation
Ripe strawberries easily separate from caps with a gentle pull. If you tug and yank, fruits still need more time on the plants to finish ripening for ideal sweetness.
How to Pick
Grasp the berry gently between your fingers and thumb. Tilt sideways, applying light pressure, to detach the cap directly from your hand without crushing delicate fruit.
Soon your patch will flourish with shiny, red gems ready for fresh eating! Now let’s cover how to keep your strawberry patch productive year after year.
Strawberry Plant Care After Harvest
Don’t let your strawberry patch decline after delivering a bounty of juicy berries.
Proper care post-harvest keeps your patch pumping out sweet fruits year upon year with just a little attention.
Prune Leaves
Old leaves turn brown or develop disease issues over time. Prune off affected foliage with clean shears after final picking. This stimulates new, healthy leaf growth.
Apply a balanced fertilizer.
Replenish nutrients depleted after fruit production by mixing all-purpose fertilizer into the surrounding soil. This fuels the regeneration of the next season’s flowers and fruits.
Remove Dead Plants
Inspect each plant, pulling out ones that died over winter or looked decrepit after heavy fruiting. This prevents diseases and pests from spreading.
Propagate Runners
Healthy daughter plants from runner shoots replace the old plants you removed. Guide the most robust runners to fill bare spots, then secure with garden staples so young roots establish.
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Overwintering Strawberries if Necessary
In areas with extremely cold winter temperatures, protecting strawberry plants prevents winterkill-threatening crop yields. Use these overwintering techniques to shield plants:
Provide Winter Insulation
After plants go dormant, cover beds with 4-6 inches of shredded leaves, salt hay, or pine straw.
This insulates plant crowns from temperature fluctuations. Remove some insulation as growth resumes so plants get sunlight.
Erect Low Tunnels
Surround beds with hoops, tenting the area with breathable landscape fabric secured snugly to the ground.
This shields from the wind while allowing sunlight through for growth. Remove any accumulated snow promptly.
Allow Adequate Airflow
Allow space between plant rows for airflow rather than packing densely. Crowding causes humidity and poor air circulation, which leads to diseases like gray mold.
Take steps to moderate harsh winter conditions if frigid temperatures threaten plant survival in your region. Then enjoy an earlier, more abundant berry harvest!
Troubleshooting Common Growing Issues
Even well-cared-for strawberry patches encounter problems occasionally. Catch issues early and troubleshoot properly for the best results.
Leaf Spots
Dark, necrotic leaf lesions signal fungal disease. Improve airflow and avoid wetting foliage. Remove and destroy the affected leaves.
Spray copper-based fungicide starting early in the crop; culprit: spring through harvest.
Fruit Mold
Identify the culprit: botrytis, anthracnose, or leather rot. Pick all infected berries immediately. Improve air circulation.
Spray fungicides containing chlorothalonil weekly, starting at the first bloom through harvest.
Lack of Flowers or Fruits
This signals too much nitrogen fertilization. Eliminate high-nitrogen feeds instead of using lower ratios like 5-10-10.
Ensure plants get 8+ hours of sun. Protect blossoms from frost with fabric when cold temperatures threaten.
Spider Mites
Check the undersides of leaves for tiny moving specks and fine webbing. Knock populations down with directed water sprays.
Release predatory mites. Apply insecticidal soap for heavy infestations.
Conclusion
Growing sweet, juicy strawberries in your own backyard is very achievable with the right guidance.
Success starts with choosing a vibrant strawberry variety suited for your region and harvest goals.
Prepare planting beds carefully to meet strawberries’ preferences for sunny spots with well-drained, nutrient-rich, slightly acidic soil.
Plant young starts from seedlings or plugs in spring or fall based on desired harvest times. Care for establishing plants includes diligent watering, monthly feeding, and protective mulching.
Pinch off runners so each mother plant directs energy into developing plump, flavorsome berries rather than excessive new shoots.
Soon your strawberry patch flourishes, rewarding your efforts with shiny red gems begging to be picked once indicators like color, size, and ease of separation signal prime ripeness.
Harvest all berries promptly as they fully redden to maximize yields and enjoy them at their peak sweetness.