Growing Strawberries

This year, I chose to grow my strawberries in hanging baskets, as pictured above. I have 4 of those baskets hanging from the deck of my house.

If you choose to plant them in the ground – make sure that they aren’t planted in the same soil as tomatoes, peppers or eggplants… and that none of those vegetables have been planted in that soil for at least the past 3 years. (see why I do hanging baskets??)

My neighbor has one whole 50×50 space dedicated to strawberries. A farm down the street from us dedictates full acerage to strawberries. And here I am with my pathetic little hanging baskets! But! They produce really sweet, gorgeous berries all summer long and I love having them hang outside the kitchen so I can just step out and pluck a few to add to my yogurt or ice cream!

Grow in full sun all day and expect luscious berries in 3 months. They are BEAUTIFUL ornamental plants, which will dazzle your visitors. They should be spaced 10″ – 14″ apart depending on level of fertilization and plant size. Pajaro variety produces the largest plants requiring the greater planting distance,

Prune off all runners that develop the first season so all the energy is focused into fruit production. If the plants are not sized up when flower production starts, remove first flush of flowers. If berry production or plants are less vigorous in subsequent years, you may want to put in new plants in fresh soil to get that incredible vigor you witnessed the first year. Commercially, they are usually treated as annuals, even though; they are in fact, perennials

Along with the hanging baskets, I also have a couple of these on order to be delivered by the end of the week – - I’m keeping these right outside the patio doors to my kitchen:

Strawberry Planter

MMMMMM.. strawberries! If I had to pick a favorite plant in my yard – - this one might just be IT!