There are so many ways to enjoy strawberries, a bright-colored topping on your breakfast cereal being just one. So why not try your hand at growing them. Strawberries can be grown in pots, both inside and outside a greenhouse. Or you can grow them in the ground, either outdoors or in a greenhouse bed.
If you want to grow strawberries outdoors in your garden, remember this: Strawberries by their very nature set their fruit on the ground. So a longstanding practice among home gardeners is to put straw around and under their strawberry plants to keep the fruit from touching the soil. Or you can grow strawberries outdoors in planters that are specially designed to achieve the same goal. A third method is to set strips of plastic under the fruit, but this may hold water and rot the fruit.
Wherever you grow these plants outdoors, first make sure that the soil is at least 50°F. Also, when setting the plants into the ground, be sure you put the crown level with the surrounding soil. The hole you dig should be large enough so that you’re not cramming the roots into it. Next, firm up the soil around the plant, taking care not to overly compact it. Then water the plants in and wait for results. After heavy rain, check to be sure that the roots haven’t become exposed. For ideal-sized strawberries, the plants need up to two inches of water a week. That seems like a lot of water, but it produces the largest fruit. After your outdoor plants are well established – six to eight weeks after planting – they should be fed lightly with a balanced 10-10-10 fertilizer each month while they’re producing. Also keep in mind that slugs, birds, and other animals love this soft red fruit almost as much as you do. Covering outdoor plants with netting should protect them from these unwelcome visitors.
Strawberries can also be grown inside your greenhouse. In my greenhouse, I plant them both in beds and in pots. Hanging planters are an excellent way to save greenhouse space. Not only does greenhouse-growing give me a long strawberry season, but it also helps to keep the fruit away from birds and other animals. When growing strawberries inside, temperature, water, and fertilizer requirements are the same as for growing them outdoors.
What kinds of strawberries should you grow? There are two main types: “June-bearing” and “everbearing.” Honeoye is a June-bearing variety that tends to have large berries. If you haven’t grown strawberries before, I suggest you start with Honeoye. A very tasty choice for hanging baskets or planters is Mara des Bois, a French-developed everbearing plant related to woodland strawberries. Its small to medium sized berries are very tasty and keep developing over a fairly long season. Another popular everbearing strawberry is Ozark Beauty, which produces large berries from June through to fall. I’ve tried all of these varieties in pots and in beds in my unheated greenhouse, and they’ve all produced well.