How to plant strawberries in a new raised bed and a hanging bag - How To: Weekly contest by WizarDave - WizStead Post #11

I'm super excited to have just planted my favorite fruit... the strawberry!
Let me show you how to plant strawberries in a hanging bag and also in a raised bed.

• I am trying something new this year. A hanging growin' bag.
  • The rest I planted in a new raised bed.

I looked at a LOT of different varieties of strawberries

• Trying to decide if I wanted a June bearer, day-neutral or an everbearer.
  • Wanting a large strawberry.
    • I chose Park Seed's Park's Whopper Strawberry.

Image Source

I mean, just look at the size of those things.
And the description sold me...

...you'll just love the flavor of these plump, bright red, juicy berries!...
Expect to harvest 1 to 3 pints from every plant!
... This is the strawberry to grow if you have uncooperative soil or unpredictable weather.

25-75 pints of strawberries a year off my 25 plants!

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the annual per capita consumption of fresh and frozen strawberries is 4.85 pounds.

Researching pounds / pint of strawberries gave me a pretty wide selection of answers.

• Perhaps 1# / pint is about average.
  • So it looks like 25 plants should be plenty for the wife and I to eat more than double the average American.
    • That works as a starting point for me.
• If we run out from one year to the next, I'll simply keep a few more plants...

Growin' bags

I caught this combo on sale at Park Seeds.

• I could actually purchase the combo and basically the grow bags were free.
  I've never tried grow bags, so what the heck. You can't beat FREE! haha
  • Doing a bit of research shows mixed results from these hanging bags. They tend to dry out quickly, so will need watered daily as I water other potted plants.
    • The instructions say to use new plants each year. Potting up any runners to use the next year. But this goes against most planting instructions that say to not use any berries the first year, so the roots can get better established. Hmm. Guess I will just play it by ear...
• I was quite surprised how small these bags were.
  • I planted 10 strawberry plants in 1 bag.
    • I'll save the other bag for flowers.
      Perhaps some Wave petunias would be nice.
      

Image Source

Growin' bag planting instructions

This was the first time I've ever used hanging grow bags.
First here's what didn't work.

• I filled the bag about half with potting soil with fertilizer added to it already.
  • Put the 10 plants in through the already cut X's.
    • Tried filling it the rest of the way with potting soil.
      Nope. That did not work!
      All the plants pulled into the bag.

Here's what worked and is recommended.
I dumped it all back out and started over.
I filled the bag to just below the first 2 holes.

• Put in 2 plants.
  Filled the bag to the next 2 holes.
  And so on, until the bag was full.
  • This worked great!
    • Then I used a garden hose to water it in.
      Slowly running water until it started coming out the bottom drip hole.

Here's the finished bag

The instructions say to lay the bag flat for a couple of weeks to let the roots develop and settle in.

• Then hang it where it will get full sun and is protected from wind.
  • So, I have 2 weeks from now to find that perfect hanging spot.
    • I'll keep you posted.

Planting strawberries in a new raised bed

This is the 2nd bed I made from scrap metal animal feeders I had laying around.

• Here's the post explaining how I used the first one for growing asparagus.
  • I pretty much followed the same procedure.
    • Digging down 6" or so (one shovelful deep).
      Setting the metal ring.
      Putting that dirt into the ring.
      Adding some more top soil.
  • Then I planted the strawberry plants as evenly spaced as I could.
• Last but not least was to give them a good watering in to settle the soil.
  Plus, it's been really dry here for awhile...
  • This afternoon, when I mow the yard, I will use the bagger to collect the clippings.
    I'll put a few inches of these around all the plants so I won't have so much weeding to do later on.
    Plus it breaks down and helps amend the soil.
    • I'll water every couple of days until the plants are doing good.
      Then, I'll water once a week, unless we get plenty of rain.
      It looks like we should get rain Wednesday, so I'll skip watering for a few days then...

Not sure why this says to space at 30". That's too far apart IMHO...

Here's my planted strawberries in a raised bed

Choosing a variety

3 types to choose from: June bearer, day-neutral or an everbearer.

• June bearers
  • 2-3 weeks of harvest, typically in June.
    • Renovate beds after fruiting. Remove weeds. Thin plants to 6" apart.
• day-neutral
  • Length of day does not affect setting fruit.
    • But temperature does. It won't set fruit >85F.
• everbearers
  • Get a spring and fall crop.
    • requires short days to set fruit.

Matted row vs. Hill or Mound system

Matted row
Good for June bearers.
Plant with 18-30" spacing in rows 4' apart.

• allow runners to form a matted row about 2 feet wide.
  • produces the greatest number of strawberries.

Hill system
Mound soil 8" high and 24" wide.
Plant with 12" between plants in a staggered row.

• remove all runners.
  • produces the best quality strawberries

Fertilizing strawberries

Use a balanced fertilizer. Ex. 10-10-10

• Fertilize when planting.
  • Again at about 4 weeks and again in August.
    • Fertilize everbearing and day neutral after the first harvest.
• Each year after planting, fertilize after fruit set and again in the fall.
  • Fertilizing in spring creates too much growth and not enough fruit production.

Companion plants

Strawberries love...

• Asparagus, borage, beans, caraway, dill, fennel, garlic, lettuce, lupin, marigolds, mint, onions, sage, spinach, thyme

Strawberries hate...

• cabbage

Crop Rotation

Do not plant in a site that recently had strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, or eggplant.

Here's some links I found when researching strawberries:

• Home Fruit Production: Strawberry Cultivars and Their Culture
  • Missouri Extension
• Strawberry Plants . org
  • The ONE stop for EVERYTHING related to strawberry plants and growing strawberries
• Bonnie Plants
• The Old Farmer's Almanac
  • PLANTING, GROWING, AND HARVESTING STRAWBERRIES
• Mother Earth News
  • Learn how to grow strawberries — even in containers and small spaces — to enjoy ripe berries at the very start of summer.

and random notes from those links

• Strawberries require about 1" of water a week.
• Mulch in summer to help control weeds.
• Mulch heavily for winter to prevent heaving out of ground from alternate freezing and thawing.
• Pick all flowers the first year so you will get more runners.
• Slugs LOVE strawberries. Use straw mulch to cut down on slugs.
• Birds LOVE strawberries. You might need to use netting for protection.
• Extra strawberries can be frozen, dried, or made into jam or preserves.
• Zones 3-10
• Full sun
• Harvest in the morning. Wash and refrigerate (if you can keep from eating all of them! haha)
• Freeze 1 layer deep on a cookie sheet, then bag them.
• Slice them to dehydrate.

About the weekly contest

by @howtoweekly
See all posts tagged #howtoweekly

• How To: Weekly is created, sponsored and judged by @aoart and @roscoeh.
  • guidelines for entry
    • Latest contest post

WizNOTE: This is a great contest!
When I first saw the Internet back around '95,
I realized it would do 2 things...

• Connect people to people
  • and
• Connect people to information

That's what this contest does.

• Everyone is an expert at something!
  • You should share your common sense.
    So others can learn from your knowledge and not have to struggle through the same mistakes you made learning that knowledge.
    • You should browse the tags for some great information.
      You should enter this contest to share some great information!

End notes

Let's discuss growing strawberries.

• Please comment !!!
  • any additional tips or tricks you have
    about growing, harvesting, storing strawberries
    • Do you have a strawberry patch?
      or plan on planting one?

All the rest of the photos were taken by @WizarDave

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Who I am @WizarDave	The KEY to Life!