Thursday, June 4, 2009

Strawberries

In just a few days we will get to begin picking our two rows of strawberries. We will need to plant a another row this year because our first row will be three years old and then they will not produce as many strawberries. It is good to rotate the beds every 2-3 year's or at least add new berries to your patch. We grow our strawberries in "hills" We cut all runners when they form not allowing them to jump over to make a new plant. This keeps our strawberries tidy and we get larger strawberries this way.


Where to plant Strawberries: We have our strawberries in two long raised beds but you can plant strawberries about anywhere.

1. They like a sunny location

2. Southern exposure is best

3. A place were there is good air circulation

4. They need good drainage (watch out for tree roots)

5 Good soil pH 5-6 We top dress with compost every year.


We will make our new raised beds this fall so when spring comes we will add our new plants... we can either "catch" some runners or dig up small plants to add to our new bed. We always plant so the crown is at surface level...planting to deep can cause the crown to rot. We have never used straw because I have always thought that it would attract slugs..because of it retaining moisture...but as I have written before we are having trouble with slugs never the less. I am now thinking straw might be a good idea. We are still using egg shells but that is not keeping them a way from my delicious strawberries.

Happy Gardening...

Lynn

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