Growing strawberries in your garden is one of the most rewarding gardening efforts. If you’ve ever picked a sweet red strawberry right off the plant and popped it into your mouth, then you already know how much better they taste when freshly picked. The strawberries are loaded with natural sugars that quickly convert to starch once they’re picked. So, the fresher the berry, the sweeter the taste.
Anxious to pick fresh strawberries from your home garden? The fruits are just starting to form. Time will pass slowly until the first berry is eaten. There’s not much to do right now except water and pull spotted leaves.
However, after harvest is finished, what you do to this year’s strawberry bed will affect next year’s strawberry crop.
The sooner after harvest the patch is cleaned up, fertilized, and irrigated, the better the chances of getting a good crop next year.
One of the main goals in strawberry patch renovation is to provide leaves with plenty of sunlight so they can manufacture the food plants need. Remove old leaves and weeds. And,it also reduces the number of strawberry plants so they do not compete with each other for light, moisture and nutrients.
Here is our recommendation to renovate the beds of June-bearers: (this is not recommended for day-neutrals or everbearers )
- After the crop has been harvested, mow the foliage to about 2 inches above the top of the crowns. Be careful not to damage crowns. Remove all plant debris and burn or bury it.Use your common sense when renovating the bed. If plant spacing is sparse and plant leaves are healthy, mowing the leaves may not be beneficial. Also, if there are large open spaces between plants, thinning of plants is unnecessary.
- Narrow the rows to a strip 8 to 10 inches wide. If you have a small bed, thin plants so they are spaced about 4 to 6 inches apart.
- Thin out old and weak plants, leaving 1-year-old vigorous plants. The best plant density is about 5 to 6 plants per square foot of row.
- Remove all excess runners as they form. Remove all runners that form after September 1–they won’t have time to root and form flower buds for next season’s crop.
- The next step is to fertilize the plants with about 3/4 to 1 pound of a complete fertilizer such as 13- 13-13 (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) or an equivalent on each 25 feet of row.
- Control weeds and water throughout the summer as strawberry plants are shallow-rooted, and it is important that plants are in a vigorous condition when fruit buds begin to develop in September and October.
Want to know more?
Do this:
Go to the post titled ”Strawberry Success Solution” and “Your Strawberry Plants”
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Yours truly for a great garden with outstanding berries,veggies and flowers.
Polly-organic gardener
