How to grow a strawberry patch

Preparing To Plant A Strawberry Patch – The Soil

The best way to do this is by using compost. Work in generous amounts of compost to the soil before planting. A good rule of thumb is to use a 5 gallon bucket of compost for every 10 plants. If the soil is hard or clay-like, a bit of fine sand added in will help as well.

The life arc of strawberries begins with the establishment of a new plant, peaks two to three years later, and then proceeds toward senescence and death two to three years following its peak.

Plan to put your strawberries in the sunniest spot you can find. Yields are particularly dependent on how much sunlight your plants get. Strawberries that get six to eight hours a day of sunlight will be okay but they won’t produce a crop of berries like the patch that receives ten hours of sunlight.

Strawberries are perennials — they go through a period of dormancy in the winter and return each spring ready to go again. Virtually every planting zone is conducive for growing strawberry plants at least a few months out of the year.

Plants will need to be spaced 45cm (18in) apart within the row, with rows set at least 60cm (2ft) apart. It is far better to make your bed two or three rows wide than to have one long, single row.

If you have a 4×4 foot garden plot, plant one strawberry plant in the center of each square foot during the very early spring. Pinch or cut all the strawberry flowers off of the plants in year one, but allow the strawberry runners to grow and root within the 4×4 feet of garden.

No, tomatoes and strawberries do not grow well together and they are not companion plants for each other and this is because tomatoes can contribute to the deadly disease in strawberries. Both strawberries and tomatoes have companion plants that can benefit their growth but should be kept apart from each other.

Plants to Avoid in your Strawberry Patch

Plants like tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, melons, peppers, roses, mint, and okra may actually contribute to this deadly disease in strawberry plants. It is essential to note that strawberries should not even be planted in beds that have recently housed those plants on this list.

So coffee grounds are good for strawberry plants because they provide a good source of nitrogen to it. The slight acidic nature of the brewed coffee grounds helps improve soil acidity.

COMPANIONS: Strawberries grow happily with beans, borage, chives, lettuce, onions, peas, radishes and spinach.

Strawberry Runners

Each runner has a tiny plant at its end and these can be rooted and grown on to produce new plants. Runners take a lot of the plant’s energy to produce, so in the first two years of life they should be cut off from where they emerge to concentrate the plant’s efforts on fruit production.

As the runners grow, a cluster of small leaves form on their tips, and new roots start growing from the base. Once those roots set and the leaves mature, voila! A new strawberry plant is born. The following year, the plant will produce fruit.

This can compromise the plant’s future production as well. The solution is to pinch off or cut off all flowers from every new strawberry plant for the first growing season, allowing the strawberry plants to root and grow without distraction. Simply check the plants once a week and remove any flowers you find.

Fruit is typically ready for harvesting 4-6 weeks after blossoming. Harvest only fully red (ripe) berries, and pick every three days. Cut by the stem; do not pull the berry or you could damage the plant. For June-bearer strawberries, the harvest will last up to 3 weeks.

The average strawberry plant will produce up to 1 quart of strawberries per plant. And this is only when it’s in good production mode, with good growing conditions (estimating a harvesting season to lasts 3 to 4 weeks.)

During normal weather conditions, strawberries need water equal to 1 to 1.5 inches of rain each week. During hot, dry periods, water as needed to prevent shallow roots from drying out. Plants in containers may need daily watering.

There’s evidence that fruiting of tomatoes and peppers is improved by applying Epsom salts, which contains sulfur and magnesium. Apply 1 tablespoon of granules around each transplant, or spray a solution of 1 tablespoon Epsom salts per gallon of water at transplanting, first flowering, and fruit set.