Gardening Guide to Growing Strawberry Plants

Strawberry is an easy to grow fruit plant can be planted by anyone who has some basic interests in plants and gardening. If the conditions are favorable you can expect one quart of strawberries from each strawberry plant grown in your garden. The first step of planting strawberries in your garden begins with selecting a suitable plant from the three varieties of strawberry plants known as June bearing, Ever bearing and Day Neutral.

June bearing strawberry plants can be harvested in the spring for two to three weeks. But you can expect a large crop when you harvest a June bearing strawberry plant. These plants are basically available in two different varieties known as mid-season and late varieties. Ever bearing plants can be harvested two to three times a year during spring, summer and fall. Normally these varieties do not send out many runners.

Unlike ever bearing strawberry plants, day neutral varieties of strawberries are capable of producing a few runners. If you choose to grow this strawberry plant for your garden you will be able to harvest fruits throughout the growing season. But the fruits that you get from your day neutral strawberry plant will be smaller than the fruits produced by June variety of strawberry plants.

You can order any of these varieties from your local nursery or from the catalogue to plant them in early spring. Make sure that the plants that you get from the supplier is certified as disease free to avoid the problems of bringing a virus affected strawberry plant to your garden. Make sure to select the plants that have large crown and healthy roots.

If you want to get the most out of growing strawberry plants, then choose a site that is ideal for planting strawberries in your garden. It should be place where the plants get full sun and has an excellent drainage. A gentle south facing well drained sandy loam is ideal for growing strawberries. If no such site is available in your garden then it is better to grow strawberries in containers or raised beds. Do not attempt to plant strawberries where you have recently planted plants like tomatoes, potatoes, peppers or egg plants.

It is always advisable to collect the instruments and materials that are required for the purpose of strawberry planting before you actually begin the planting of strawberries. These instruments include garden shears, garden spades, rot tillers and shovels. To begin planting, till the selected area thoroughly using a tiller at least to a depth of two to three inches and fill that space with an organic fertilizer such as compost or well rotted manure. The ideal Ph of the soil for a strawberry plantation is 5.8 to 6.2. Now dig a hole for each plant at a minimum of 5-7 inches width and deep enough to accommodate the roots of the strawberry plants in your hand. Place the plant in the hole with the crown just above the ground level. Fill the soil and cover the roots of the plant.

Spacing totally depends of the planting method selected by you. It is best to set the plants 18 inches apart following the "matted row" planting method for best results.