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Xanthe White's guide to growing strawberries
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Monday, 09 January 2012
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 Thanks again to Xanthe for this excerpt from her
book: Organic Vegetable Gardening, in which the award-winning
landscaper shows us how to get a berry good berry (or many) from our own
gardens!
Click here to be in to win a copy of Organic Vegetable Gardening
Strawberries
Though
not a vegetable, the strawberry deserves its place in every vegetable
plot, if only to draw the next generation of gardeners into the garden!
Ideally plants should be replaced every three years and this is done
without great expense as they are easily propagated from runners. In a
large plot, plant three rows, with one row being replaced and one
planted each year.
Preparing
Strawberries
can be grown anywhere. They perform brilliantly in hanging baskets, old
guttering or pots and can even be planted directly into a bag of
compost for a no-frills approach. Container crops, however, will not
last through many seasons.
Performance is best in free-draining soils but in heavier soils they can
be planted on mounds or in a sloping area to improve the drainage. Good
rich compost or manure should be dug well into the soil before
planting. Lime should be avoided as strawberries prefer acidic soils.
Plant selection is important to ensure resistance to pests and diseases.
I highly recommend the Incredible Edibles range, whose plants are
chosen for flavour and performance in the home garden. Good plant
breeding and selection produces plants that perform for local
conditions, so it is worth spending money on a local variety rather than
overseas-selected hybrids.
Morning sun and good light are desirable rather than hot all-day sun, which can stress plants.
 Sowing and planting
While
some strawberries can be grown from seed, I prefer plants. As long as
plant selection is considered and a virus-resistant variety chosen, I
see little benefit in growing from seed compared with other plants.
The optimum planting season varies greatly depending on your region. In
the warmer central and northern regions, plant from April–June; in
cooler regions any time from August–September is ideal.
Plants should be well spaced out (50cm at least) and generous amounts of
straw mulch applied at planting will help to protect the shallow roots,
retain water and reduce the need for weed management. This also helps
to keep fruit clean, lifting it above the soil.
Companions
Strawberries will benefit from being planted close to borage, beans, onion and garlic. Strawberries do not like brassicas.
Care
You
can mulch strawberries with newspaper, wood chips, straw, coarse
sawdust, fine bark mulches or basically any loose mulch that doesn’t
compact. My preference is pea straw, laid regularly and dug in to the
soil to assist in aeration before each additional application. Above and
below the soil, it helps weed control, moisture retention and aeration.
Coffee grounds can also be used as a mulch and plants will benefit from
potash, seaweed, and blood and bone. It’s hard to overdo it, so be
generous in your feeding. Liquid feed can be applied too, although not
during fruiting.
To produce plumper fruit you can remove some flowers before fruit sets
so more energy is available for the remaining fruit to develop.
Strawberries also produce runners. These are long stems with little
plants at intervals. The majority of these should be removed so
production will be concentrated on your main crop, but a few should be
kept to plant in the following season. To do this, fill a small pot with
compost and bury three-quarters into the bed beneath the plantlet. Pin
the plantlet to the soil in the pot until its roots take firm hold, at
which time it can be removed from the mother plant.
After fruiting, prune old leaves and dispose of remaining old mulch to
prevent diseases. Slugs are partial to strawberries so should be
discouraged with beer traps and night hunts.
Remember that strawberries are 90 per cent water, so any lapse in watering will affect the plumpness of your harvest.
Harvesting
Strawberries
may be ready for early harvest from December and will continue to
provide through the summer months. They should be picked to be eaten
that day. Strawberries don’t last well on the plant, so enjoy the
season, harvesting every day or so before birds and bugs claim your
rewards.
Contributed by Xanthe White, from her book Organic Vegetable Gardening. Xanthe's guides are presented in association with Dalton’s School of Gardening.
Xanthe holds free practical gardening workshops on the last Saturday of
each month from 2-4pm at Daltons Landscape Supplies, 1 Morrin Road,
Mount Wellington, Auckland. Click here for details or to register.
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