Strawberries are kinda popular among all the fruit lovers around the world because of it's sweetness. Unfortunately its bit expensive in some countries. You can eat them raw, can be added to smoothies or juices, add into salads, cakes, oats meal, pancakes etc. There are lots of different ways to eat this red fruit. And it is one the most rewarding food crops to grow in a small home garden. Homegrown berries taste far better than the store-bought ones. Moreover, it's always healthy to eat non-toxic organic and freshly plucked berries right from your own garden. It will also help to save your money too.
Before you start planting, it's good to have some knowledge about what you are going to grow.There are 03 types of strawberries available to the home gardener as,
- June-bearing strawberries produce a large amount of crops in mid-June to early July. This produce largest yield in short period of time.
- Ever-bearing types produce two crops, one in early summer and the other in early fall.
- Day neutral plants produce fruit throughout the most of the growing season.
Let's grow
01. First thing first that come to everyone's mind is where should I grow these? If you have a home garden, then you can cultivate any plant without any worries. As most of you are either live in small space houses or apartments, its quite hard to do gardening at home. Even if you live in small space house or an apartment, you can still grown some fresh veggies and fruits. You can grow in a small container, hanging basket, stacked planter, bottle, old tires etc. Then arrange them on your balcony, doorstep, rooftop, patio etc or somewhere your plants can able to get enough sunlight. This also bring some fresh oxygen to breath and attractiveness to your place while giving organic harvest.
02. You need to choose the container according to your choice with drainage holes in the bottom. You can use containers made up of clay, cement, plastic, wood etc. The numbers of plants you are going to grow is depend on the size and width of the container.
03. Then fill your container with soil. To give some extra space for plant roots to grow, give at least 12-14 inches of soil depth.
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04. It is not enough to pour the container only with soil to get good yield. Your plant babies need some good nutrition to grow well and produce healthy, yummy berries. So it should contain plenty of organic matter such as compost, shredded barks, grit etc. If you are able to find out some cow dung, it would be much better. But don't worry potting soil mixes will be also sufficient.
05. You must grow your plants about 12-18 inches apart to allow them to spread horizontally. You can either use seed of the straw berry or plants. After that, you must water those babies. You need to water well for optimum berry production throughout the season.
Strawberry plants continue to be productive for at least 2-3 years. After that you need to replace them. You can renovate June-bearing plants by trimming off old leaves without damaging to the crown. And its not necessary to trim the Ever-bearers. But its good to take care of those plants after fruiting by adding fertilizers and water. If you are growing strawberries on the ground remove some of the runners before it invade your yard.
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Protect your plants
Protecting those newly grown plants from pests and diseases are next challenging task. Strawberries are quit susceptible to fruit rots caused by fungi and leaf diseases. To keep those plants away from fungi, keep the plant in a place where it can get maximum of sun, you can use straw mulch under the plants, keep some space when you are planting to avoid being crowded and water early in the day.
What are woodland strawberry or Fragaria vesca?
What are woodland strawberry or Fragaria vesca?
This is a day neutral strawberry species which also know as "European strawberry, Alpine strawberry and Wild strawberry". These plants produce small but sweet fruit. Most of these plants are grown from seeds. These can be planted in the front of perennial beds, walkways or in containers.
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