How to Plant and Grow Strawberries

Planting your own patch is easy. Here’s what you need to know to grow the juiciest, sweetest fruit.

Biting into sun-ripened strawberries, still warm from the garden, is a summer treat. A few rows of these perennial plants will fill your fruit bowl and freezer. By growing several varieties in your patch or containers, you can enjoy a bounty of sweet fruits from spring until the first frost in the fall. Grow strawberries as perennials in Zones 5-8 or as annuals in Zones 9-10.

Where to Plant Strawberries

No matter what type of strawberry you grow, select a spot in full sun (that gets at least 6 hours of direct sunlight every day).

How and When to Plant Strawberries

The three main types of strawberries are June-bearing, everbearing, and day-neutral.

June-bearing strawberries, such as ‘Shuksan’, grow well in Zones 6-10, but some varieties are better for your local conditions than others. Remember that June-bearers will produce their crop earlier in warm climates. Plant June-bearers in early spring in rows 4 feet apart, setting the plants 2 feet apart. The mother plants make plantlets on long stems called runners that root where they touch the ground. These will fill the rows and create a mat. Let them fill up a 2-foot-wide space, keeping room between the rows for access.

In Zones 6-8 (except for hot, humid areas), everbearing or day-neutral strawberries may be your best bet. Everbearing types, such as ‘Quinault’, produce two crops (one in June and one in September). Day-neutral types, such as ‘Tristar’, will produce a continual but smaller crop from June to September. June-bearing varieties are often recommended for short-season northern gardens; they offer a bigger summer bounty than everbearers, but plants stop fruiting after the first harvest.

Another option is Fragaria vesca, the alpine strawberry, which produces smaller fruits than other strawberry plants, but their flavor is more intense. These plants are easy to grow in Zones 3-9, even in part shade. The best way to grow strawberries of this type is to plant them at least 2 feet apart and the rows 3-4 feet apart. The plants don’t produce plantlets, but they do reseed, often forming a high groundcover over time that will keep producing fruit from spring until frost.

Strawberry Care Tips

You’ll have the most success with new plants bought from a reputable nursery rather than plants passed along from a friend’s garden. Strawberry plants decrease in vigor after a few years, and they’re susceptible to diseases, so it’s best to start fresh, not with hand-me-downs. In fact, you should replace your whole bed every four or five years.

Light

Strawberry plants should get at least eight hours of full sun every day. Less than that and your strawberry harvest will be smaller.

Soil and Water

Your strawberry bed needs rich, loamy, well-drained soil that’s moist. Water 1 to 2 inches per week during the growing season. Keep the crown of the plant exposed to prevent rot. Work in plenty of compost or well-rotted manure. Straw mulch helps keep weeds down, moderates soil moisture and keeps the berries from sitting in the mud. In winter, the straw acts like a blanket to keep the plants dormant until it’s time to start growing in spring.

Temperature and Humidity

Allow for plenty of air circulation when you plant strawberries to avoid fungal diseases like powdery mildew. Strawberries grow best in 60ºF to 80ºF, but can tolerate very cold temperatures as long as they’re protected from frost.

Fertilizer

Fertilize strawberries when the growing season starts and again after the second harvest of everbearing or day-neutral varieties using a balanced fertilizer. Use restraint when fertilizing since over-fertilization can lead to excessive leaf growth and fewer berries.

Pruning

Clip off any runners and only maintain the original plants of day-neutrals and everbearers. Prune flowers from all plants the first year to stimulate fruit growth.

Potting and Repotting Strawberries

Because they tend to have small root systems, growing strawberries in containers is one of the best ways to grow strawberries. Like planting them in the ground, choose a spot with full sun. Potted strawberry plants will dry out quicker than those in a patch, so check on them daily to ensure the soil is consistently moist. Consider using a drip irrigation system for containers, set on a timer to make this task easier. Also, use a container with a drainage hole at the bottom, so the plants aren’t sitting in water. Day-neutral varieties are the best for growing in pots because they produce fewer runners (though everbearing plants will also work).

In the winter, you have two choices: Dump out the soil and plants, wash the pot, and store it over the winter, replanting next year. Or keep watering the plants until late fall, hold the pot in an unheated garage or shed and let the plants go dormant (continue giving them a little water every week or so). Then, after the last spring frost, bring the pot back to its sunny spot, and the plants should start growing again.

Pests and Problems

Strawberries need a lot of attention to keep bugs and fungi from ruining plants. They can be affected by root rot, anthracnose (a fruit rot), and sun scorch, among other problems. Insects such as strawberry weevils can cause damage, and birds will devour strawberries unless they’re protected with plant netting. Slugs and snails can lurk underneath mulch used to protect your plants. Use an organic slug control if they become too much of a problem.

How to Propagate Strawberries

Strawberries need rejuvenation each year, which you can easily do with your lawnmower. After you’ve harvested, adjust the height of your mower blades to about 4 inches off the ground and mow over your patch several times. If you can’t mow the beds, cut each plant down to about an inch. Then, rake out the clipped plant parts, weed, remove baby plants that have hopped out of the bed, and lightly fertilize with an all-purpose organic blend.

Types of Strawberry

When you’re searching for strawberry plants, make sure you select the very best for your growing conditions. Each of these varieties is known for its delicious flavor and easy care.

‘Baron Solemacher’

Chefs savor this alpine variety for its intense taste. Because the berries are fragile, they’re best eaten fresh from the patch.

‘Earliglow’

One of the earliest varieties to set fruit. Good fresh or frozen, the flavorful berries are sweet without adding sugar. Winter-hardy plants resist disease.

‘Giant Robinson’

These huge, mouthwatering berries are impressive in a fruit bowl. The vigorous, heavy-yielding plants offer one long-lasting picking season each summer.

‘Honeyoye’

These firm and juicy berries are prized for their naturally sweet taste. Winter-hardy plants grow vigorously, producing one big crop of conical fruits yearly.

‘Pink Panda’

Grow this one as an everblooming, edible groundcover in sun or partial shade.

‘Pineapple Crush’

This alpine, named for its distinct flavor, produces pale yellow fruits the first year if seeds are sown early indoors.

‘Redchief’

The large, bright-red berries remain firm for freezing and are adaptable to a wide range of growing conditions. They’re also highly disease resistant.

‘Sparkle’

This hardy variety, recommended for northern gardens, withstands late spring frosts. The name describes the berries’ bright sheen, and they’re excellent fresh or frozen.

‘Tribute’

A day-neutral variety that produces berries from spring till fall frost. Fruits are bigger later in the season, and the plants are resistant to cold and many diseases.

‘Tristar’

Berry production never goes on holiday, thanks to this hardworking day-neutral variety that fruits from spring to frost.

Strawberry Companion Plants

Asparagus

Asparagus and strawberries grow well together since their roots grow in different parts of the soil. They’re also usually ready for harvest at around the same time.

Chives

Easy-care chives can help prevent pests from infesting strawberry plants.

Sage

The strong scent of sage can cover up the sweet-scent of strawberries which can help keep hungry animals and birds from eating ripened fruit.