Planting Strawberries

PLANTING STRAWBERRIES

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I plant my strawberries using the Matted Row System.  I bought Earliglow June bearing strawberries about 8 years ago and started them in a tiered system.

I could never figure out how to manage the runners and so the weeds took over and I had to clean out the spot and start over. Luckily the strawberry plants were still there so I did not have to buy more. I simply had to reorganize the beds into something I could manage.

To the left is a picture of how over grown it had become with weeds.

To the right is a picture with it cleaned out but still having some trees roots that need digging. I dug all the tree roots out and then replanted my strawberries in row about 5 foot apart.

To the left is my cleaned out patch with strawberries about 5 foot apart giving me ample space with walking and picking strawberries. I laid down two pieces of newspaper over lapping with a hole cut to slip the strawberry plant through and then covered with about 6 inches of shredded paper. This mulch process will suppress most of the weeds, decompose to always add additional organic matter(fertilizer to my plants).

I now will take my runners from the strawberries and add to the left side of my rows thus growing the row left.  As the original row dies (in about 3 years) that will create the new path for picking.  When the newly created rows meet the "old row" I will start planting my runners to the right going back to the original row position.  This will go back and forth in a 6 to 10 years cycle giving me new plants to replace the old and keeping the strawberry patch fresh.

To the right are new rows of strawberries I have created by cutting some of the runners last year to grow a new larger patch of strawberries, this time using straw and news paper under the straw as a mulch and weed bearer.

The planters you see in the front of my strawberries also contain strawberry plants.  These are there just in case we move, then I have strawberry plant ready to trans port at anytime.  Some of my planter have asparagus (this is an experiment) in growing asparagus in containers.

PLANTING:

If you have purchased bare root strawberries (plants not in a pot) the roots will be long and stringy.  Dig a wide, 3 inch deep hole and spread the roots out and cover up to the crown.  This will bring dirt up to just below the leaves of the strawberry, and cover.  

I am harvesting about 1 to 3 lbs of strawberries per day from an estimated 4 dozen plants .  In the Louisiana, MO area?  Stop by the Garden and buy some.  Very tasty. 

If you have purchased strawberries in a pot, dig a hole the size and depth of your pot and place in the ground matching the soil depth and cover.