Planting Strawberries in Your Garden
Home-grown, vine-ripened strawberries are among the garden's supreme treats- sweet, succulent, and bursting with flavor. Serve them in shortcakes, blended into smoothies, on ice cream, in cheesecakes or crepes, topped with yogurt or whipped cream, or simply savor them "as is" fresh from the garden. Grocery store strawberries, which are harvested early and ripened off the vine, can't begin to compare in sweetness and flavor. Strawberries are also easy to grow in the home garden. Prepare the soil before planting by working in a lot of organic compost. If you are planting strawberries in containers , use a good potting soil. Strawberry plants grow well in pots, patio planters, even in hanging planters. Just make sure they get enough water. The strawberry plants form foot-wide mounds of lush dark green foliage that can serve as an attractive ground cover. They require no staking or training, as do the larger berries, and only basic care. After planting, strawberries will spread and continue to produce for four or five years before they need to be
replaced. While there are many varieties of strawberries, there are basically only two types: June-bearing (Allstar) and Everbearing (Ozark and Quinalt). The June-bearing strawberries bloom in the spring and produce a plentiful crop that ripens during June. The Everbearing strawberries produce both a spring and a fall crop, and continue producing some berries throughout the summer, more when temperatures aren't too hot. For the home gardener, planting strawberries of both types will provide a harvest of ripe berries over a long season.
Return from Planting Strawberries to Design Gardens Home Page
|
