Growing Strawberries

If you don’t have space for a garden bed, grow strawberries in containers.

There are lots of varieties that can be grown in the ground or pots and baskets, including specially bred plants that don’t produce runners.

To grow several plants together without overcrowding, use a custom container called a pocket pot.

Also used for herbs, it has cavities with openings that allow the strawberries to spill down the sides of the pot. T

o make a DIY pocket pot, use a stack of graduated terracotta pots.

Add potting mix and push the plants through the openings from the inside until the pot is full.

Put the pot in a lightly shaded position and water regularly, but don’t wet the leaves.

TIP: Young plants dry out fast so don’t leave them in the sun before planting.

To make more strawberries from healthy parent plants, don’t remove the runners that are produced during the growing season.

Instead encourage the runners to root by pegging them into the soil with U-shaped wire pegs then lift and replant.

SELECT the best young runners or modified shoots.

LIFT the shoots carefully with a trowel and detach them by cutting the runners on either side with secateurs, keeping as much soil as possible around the roots.

PLANT the shoots into a prepared bed or pot immediately.

Red Gauntlet strawberries produce large red berries and suit cooler climates.

• Large red berries
• Suits cooler climates
• Summer cropper
• Prolific fruiter

Alpine strawberries are ideal for pots and produce small red, yellow or white berries.

• Good for pots
• Full sun to part shade
• Produces small red, yellow or white berries

Roman strawberries produce aromatic red berries and bear fruit in the first season.

• Aromatic red berries
• Light pink flowers
• Bears fruit first season
• Full sun to part shade

Tarpan strawberries are small and sweet and produce red flower.

• Small sweet berries
• Red flowers
• Bears fruit first season
• Full sun to part shade

Start a strawberry patch from seed or transplant 100mm potted plants, costing about $4 each.

Buy only certified virus-free plants and rotate the beds each year to help stop the spread of soil-borne diseases.

Choose disease-resistant varieties for your local area, if available.

Replace plants every few years when they are no longer productive, and make new plants from runners during summer.

To prepare soil for planting, dig it over to remove weeds and improve with well-rotted compost.

SOW seeds thinly in trays, cover lightly with potting mix and keep moist. Seedlings should emerge in two to three weeks. Transplant when large enough to handle into beds or pots in a full sun position with good airflow.

PLANT strawberries in rows with the crowns, or swollen stem bases, just above the soil surface. Dig a hole in well-drained soil and spread out the roots then cover them with soil and pack it down. In heavy soil improve the drainage by mixing in sand, coarse organic matter or garden compost.

WATER in well and keep the soil moist, don’t let it dry out or get soggy. Give fruiting plants regular water.

MULCH with straw or use weedmat, cutting slits for the plants. This helps to keep the fruit clean, suppress weeds and retain moisture.

HARVEST fruit when fully coloured and firm, cutting the stalks with secateurs. Leave berries on the vine to ripen fully. Hard fruit is still underripe, while soft fruit is overripe.

TIP: Pick regularly for more berries.

Dig over a bed where strawberries haven’t grown before, adding well-rotted compost.

TIP: Rake in a dressing of general fertiliser just before planting.

Mark the planting holes every 400mm in rows 750mm apart using string and canes.

Dig the holes and position the plants, making sure the crown is level with the ground.

Firm the soil by hand and water well.

Mulch to stop the soil drying out and keep the berries clean.

Remove runners regularly to keep the parent plant thriving.