Strawberries
Introduction
Why go to all the hard work of keeping an allotment or kitchen garden? For many people the answer is the taste of homegrown strawberries, a flavour more intense than shop bought varieties, and even compared to 'pick your own' strawberries on farms.
The hard work in growing strawberries is front loaded. It is worth the effort of preparing a really good strawberry bed, with lots of muck dug in. A few strawberry plants (or even better strawberry runners off a neighbour) should deliver good harvests for several years with a minimal amount of care and watering.
Planting
- Planting depth: covering root ball and half the crown
- Planting spacing: 40 cm between plants, 1 m between rows
Harvesting
- May – June (summer strawberries), June – September (alpine strawberries)
- Enjoy fresh or make jam
(inside)
(outside)
(fresh)
(stored)
= jar, = freeze, 
= store
Varieties
It is possible to eat homegrown strawberries from May to September by selecting different varieties. Strawberries are usually classified into three main types: summer strawberries, day neutral strawberries, and alpine strawberries.
Summer Strawberries
These are the traditional strawberries that arrive all at once in June, giving a splendid harvest of large strawberries for two to three weeks. The plants are very hardy, and throw out runners that can be replanted, allowing the strawberry bed to be constantly renewed (and moved to a new location after three years).
Day Neutral Strawberries
A modern name for perpetual or everbearing strawberries, these are strawberries that do not concentrate their crop in the period leading up to the longest day, but spread their harvest out from June to September, providing the weather stays warm. Growing day neutral strawberries avoids a glut of strawberries in June, and new varieties claim to consistently produce large strawberries (typically they are smaller than summer types) and without fallow periods (a trait of everbearing strawberries).
Alpine Strawberries
These are delicious sweet small strawberries that, like day neutral strawberries, bear their fruit throughout the summer. Like their fruit, the plants are small, meaning they are ideal for planting in pots and other containers.
Other differences in strawberries include the timing of their harvest, the sweetness level of the strawberry and its reputation for taste, their size, and even their colour. There are white strawberries and strawberries that ripen to a deep shade of red.
Whereas summer strawberries consistently send out runners, this is not as common for day neutral and alpine strawberries. Some people choose to grow day neutral strawberries as annuals (planting in the previous autumn for a harvest in the following summer). Alpine strawberries can be grown from seed in the spring (or earlier if sown indoors).
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Growing
The ideal time for planting strawberries is at the beginning of spring, with late summer a good alternative. Early spring is good, as if you are lucky, you may have a small harvest of strawberries that year – but subsequent years will be even better. Alpine strawberries are particularly quick to mature.
Preparing a strawberry bed is hard work, but easy to do, and the work will more than repay itself with healthy plants and bountiful strawberries the following year.
The first step is decide where to put the strawberry bed. The strawberry bed will become a fixed part of an allotment or garden for several years. The general advice is to move a strawberry bed every three years. Younger strawberry plants tend to be more vigorous than older plants.
To prepare the bed, thoroughly dig over where the rows will be, and remove any weeds together with any roots found beneath the soil. Next comes the muck or compost. It is very difficult with strawberries to give too much. The richer and more well rotted the better. Strawberries are vigorous plants that like a rich soil, and this will improve the vitality of the plants and the yield over the lifetime of the bed.
Having applied the muck, the next step is to mix it well into the soil and level it with a rake. The bed is now ready for planting strawberries.
Strawberry plants are vigorous and tough, capable of surviving harsh winters, before producing delicious strawberries just when summer is starting. Apart from weeding, very little care for strawberries is needed.
There is debate over how much water to give strawberries, especially when the immature green strawberries are forming. One school of thought is to stop watering at this point. Some people like to lay straw around their strawberry plants. This helps to retain moisture in the soil, restrain weeds, and keep the fruit clean.
At my allotment the soil is very dry, with excellent drainage. I find that a regular splash of water during dry periods does no harm at all, and actually helps prevent the plants becoming distressed.
At my allotment, the biggest risk affecting the harvest is birds. Without a net, it is possible to lose the entire crop.
When summer strawberries have given their crop, it is recommended to give them a good hair cut, or even controlled burning (with great care), which will help refresh and reinvigorate the plants for the following year. There is no need to do this for day neutral or alpine strawberries.