How to grow strawberries
Take your mind off the cold and wet by planning ahead for warm, sunny days and this year’s strawberry crop, writes Barbara Smith.
What is a Kiwi summer or a pavlova or a shortcake without strawberries? In the weeks before Christmas they are the highestgrossing product sold in supermarkets.
You might not be able to grow enough at home to see you through the season but there’s a lot of satisfaction to be found in picking your own home-grown sun-warmed strawberries, and now is the time to plant them.
How to grow
Strawberries are perennials and will crop well for two to three years before losing vigour, so choose your site carefully before planting them. Also, one strawberry does not a summer make, so don’t be stingy – allocate four to six plants per person.
Strawberries need free-draining soil, full sun and irrigation. Prior to planting, enrich the soil with compost and strawberry food and feed any existing plants. Strawberries like food that’s high in potassium so if you can’t find strawberry fertiliser (Daltons, Yates and Tui all sell it) any sort of tomato fertiliser should be fine. In waterlogged conditions, the crowns can rot out and this also makes the ripening fruit susceptible to fungal diseases so mound up the soil when planting and plant on top, spacing plants 20-30cm apart.
Once your fruit starts to form, be sure to put up some netting so the birds don’t enjoy them before you do. Keep fruit dry by placing a layer of mulch beneath the plants – try sawdust, pea straw, black plastic or shredded cardboard. Magic Moss’ strawberry moss is made from sphagnum moss which has antifungal properties and is enriched with seaweed for added nutrients.
Strawberries in pots and hanging baskets do best if planted in a special strawberry mix (Daltons and Tui sell these) and also should be fed regularly with liquid fertiliser. Water every couple of days and sit the pots in saucers. The more water the plants get while the fruit is developing, the bigger the berries will be. Then, at the first sign of red on their cheeks, stop watering, because from this point on you want firm, sweet berries, not bloated, mushy, tasteless ones.
Varieties
Most modern strawberry cultivars are classified as either short-day or dayneutral. Plant several varieties to extend the harvest times. Short-day varieties start producing flower buds when the days are short, giving early spring crops, while the latter group repeat-flowers throughout spring and summer, provided the weather is warm. Therefore, short-day varieties should be planted by midwinter, for spring crops, whereas day-neutral varieties can still be planted now. Tasty short-day varieties include ‘Camarosa’, ‘Camino Real’, which is compact and therefore suitable for pots, and ‘Pajaro’. Flavoursome dayneutral varieties are ‘Aromas’ and ‘Temptation’.
Propagating
Replace one-third of your plants each year to maintain fruiting vigour. To do this, simply transplant the runners that take root around established plants in late summer. The easiest way to help them along is to peg the plantlets into the ground to secure them. Use bent kebab sticks or wire. If you’re growing strawberries in pots, simply place small containers of soil or potting mix beneath each plantlet and peg them in. Once they take root, the umbilical cord to the parent plant will naturally shrivel and break over time – or you can snip them off and leave them growing until you’re ready to shift them to a better spot in your garden. Be sure to snip tendrils not attached to the parent plant as these will take energy from your plantlet.