Homegrown strawberries not only are fresh but also delicious. Strawberries are very suitable for growing in garden or plant pots. Today, we’ll discuss how to grow blueberry in garden. If you have children, they will find that strawberries are the simplest and most valuable plants.
When planting strawberries, there are various choices. You can choose according to the space that is most suitable for you. Planting in right time depends on what kind of varieties you select. It is best to seek advice from sellers.
Choose varieties:
* Larger strawberry varieties are best planted in summer, usually in the second month of summer (May in the northern hemisphere), and at the latest in the first half of the last month of summer.
* Alpine strawberries are best planted in the second and third months of spring.
* Strawberries planted all year round are much better in autumn than in winter, because they have more time to grow in autumn, adapt to new shapes, and build a healthy root growth system to thrive. (Autumn planting is very suitable for gardens in temperate climates)
Choose a warm place with plenty of sunshine. Strawberries prefer sunshine to shade. A little breeze is better. If there is no condition, you can plant strawberries in the shade and grow strawberries, but it is far less productive than in sunny places.
Proper excavation. Add a large amount of fertilizer to enrich the soil nutrition and remove all weeds (uproot weeds). Strawberries like fertile soil. If the soil is sticky or loose sand, add some decomposed (i.e. fully degraded) organic materials. After planting, cover the ground around the plant with straw, leaves and fertilizer to protect the surface soil and keep the strawberry clean. If the soil is very acidic, add 3/4 cups of dolomite before planting per square meter.
Remove the strawberry plant from the grow bags. Soak the root ball in a bucket of water for about an hour. This will help mitigate the impact from the grow bag to the ground and ensure that the root is sufficiently wet.
Dig a hole in the soil, put the strawberry plant in, and keep its root neck on the surface of the soil. Fill and compact the soil, and remember to treat the roots of strawberry plants gently.
If you have other strawberry plants, also plant them in this way. Each plant should be kept 13.8-17.7 inches away from each other in a row, and the distance between strawberries should be about 35 inches.
Water regularly, but don’t water too much – the roots really need enough water (especially in hot weather), but don’t like to soak in water. Don’t dry the soil or make it into a mess of mud! When the depth of the soil surface is about 0.4 inches, it is the best time to water (check with your fingers). Pour it on the root of the plant, not on the fruit, otherwise it may cause the fruit to rot.
Use liquid fertilizer to fertilize strawberries, and select the fertilizer suitable for strawberries. Water-soluble and high-nitrogen fertilizer is not suitable for strawberry plants. It will cause strawberries to waste a lot of energy to grow leaves instead of focusing on fruit. If you want to use this type of fertilizer, try to reduce the amount.
Remove the first batch of flowers, which can save energy for the strawberry plant and make it produce the root system more efficiently. After that, let the flowers grow naturally and don’t pick them. It is better to remove the stolons at the beginning. After planting strawberries, you will find that after about one month, the stolon will consume the energy in the strawberry plant, so it is better to remove it first, and let the stolon grow when the plant is strong enough. If you plant strawberries in the garden, you can leave a stolon to grow with the plant, but do not let the plant have more than one stolon at the same time, or most of the energy will be absorbed by the stolon instead of entering the strawberry.
Regular inspection. The first sign that the flower of strawberry turns into fruit is the small green strawberry. These strawberries will continue to grow and turn red when they mature. You may need to deal with birds. The birds like strawberries very much. If you find them pecking strawberries, you may have to start building obstacles. You can use strawberry nets to protect plants, so most birds can’t peck strawberries. Or there is a kind choice: one for the bird, one for you. If the birds are not too greedy, you can leave some strawberries for them to peck, and you can leave some yourself. Or using garden net to protect fruits from eating. Raising a cat in the place where strawberries are planted, or hanging something that can emit light (such as hanging a CD), or using noise, can effectively drive the birds away.
Harvest strawberries. After the strawberries turn red, they can be picked. Take a bowl or basket next to the strawberry plant and select directly from the bushes. When picking strawberries, bend the index finger and middle point inward, wrap the strawberries, and pull gently to remove the strawberries. Don’t hurt the stems of the plants too hard. The stem of the strawberry will be removed when you eat it. If you want to eat fresh strawberries just picked, wash them with cold water and wipe them gently after picking.
Continue to take care of plants. Strawberry plants are quite tenacious. They will continue to produce fruit year after year, at least five years before they need to be replaced. During the winter in temperate climate zone, it is necessary to remove the mulch (such as straw, leaves, fertilizer, etc.) and weeds, leaving clean soil for strawberry to grow on its own. If it snows where you live, put strawberry plants in containers and put them indoors. Replace strawberry seedlings every two years. If the plants are infected by virus, replant healthy strawberry plants.
