Strawberries!

Even if you're a novice gardener, strawberries are easy to grow, and if planted early enough, will often produce fruit the first year. Since they are perennials, with proper care they'll continue to produce fruit for another three to five years. Strawberries can be eaten fresh, turned into jams or jellies, or baked into pies. June-bearing varieties send out runners, increasing the number of plants, and thus, the amount of berries you can enjoy.

How to Plant Strawberries

Strawberries like well-drained, slightly acidic soil, with a pH of about 5.5 - 6.5. If your soil is sandy, simply add topsoil, compost and peat moss to provide an acidic environment and add nutrients. If your soil has a lot of clay, you'll need to dig a plot or install a raised bed filled with sand, topsoil, compost, peat moss, well-rotted manure, etc. Strawberries have shallow roots, so you won't have to dig down more than 8-10 inches. Since most strawberry patches will last for three to five years, make sure to prepare the soil well. It should reward you for several seasons.

Plant strawberries in a sunny place in early spring, up to six weeks before your last expected frost date. If needed, provide row covers during extremely cold weather. Plant them as soon as you receive them, at the same depth as they were in their containers. If planting bare roots, find the central crown and plant it so the crown is at the same level as the soil and the roots are spread out. Since they need moist soil, cover the bed with mulch. Pine needles, chopped alfalfa, or chopped oak leaves all work well and contribute to an acidic soil.

If your chosen variety produces runners, plant them 18 inches apart. However, varieties which don't produce runners can be planted 12 inches apart, or even 8 inches apart if they're planted in containers.

How to Grow Strawberries

Strawberries do attract a few pests. Slugs and snails enjoy the sweet fruit. Although some people recommend pulling back mulch to discourage pests, using chopped oak leaves for mulch works even better. Pests don't like the bitter taste of oak leaves, and oak leaves won't pack down like softer maple leaves will.

Birds are also interested in strawberries and can be handled in a couple of ways. Some growers use nets. However, a more effective way is to paint strawberry-sized pebbles a deep red. Scatter them in your strawberry patch in early spring. The birds will peck at them, but won't like the result. By the time your berries are ripe, you'll have trained the birds not to eat them.

Use a Strawberry Tower

A strawberry tower can be purchased or made by hand. By growing strawberries vertically, you save space, and can plant them on a porch, deck, patio, or balcony. Another advantage to using a tower is that it discourages slugs and snails.

To build your own, you can use PVC pipe. Drill 4 inch holes along a 6 foot pipe, leaving 1½ feet at the bottom to sink into the ground. Line the pipe with burlap, newspaper, or another covering. Dig the hole and install the pipe. (If you're installing your tower on a balcony or other hard surface, bury the bottom 1½ feet in a whisky barrel or another large container of soil.) Fill the tower with a mixture of topsoil, compost, and peat moss. The peat moss will help keep soil moist and slightly acidic. Cut through the lining at each hole and insert a strawberry plant. Make sure it gets water every few days.

Some Interesting Strawberry Facts

Strawberries aren't actually berries. Actually, they're members of the rose family. Berries, such as blackberries or blueberries, have seeds on the inside. Since strawberries have seeds on the outside, they are classified by botanists as fruit.

Strawberries are not only delicious, they're nutritious too. Strawberries are high in fiber, vitamins B6, C, K, folic acid, and potassium. That makes the berries good for the heart.

If you're going to refrigerate strawberries for a few days, don't wash them first. The moisture can cause them to rot. Instead, wash them just before eating. In fact, the reason chocolate-covered strawberries are expensive is because they only last up to 24 hours. After that, they go bad quickly.

Tasty, nutritious, and easy to grow, strawberries are certainly the queen of all berries. Why not try planting them? They'll give you a sweet reward.