Extending My Strawberry Patch
Strawberries are among the easiest berries to grow. They're cold-hardy, adaptable, and can be planted in both garden beds and containers. Here at the farm, we're extending our strawberry patch, so we have more delicious, sweet fruits to pick next summer.
Earlier this year, my gardeners planted a large bed of strawberries behind my main greenhouse. The area is filled with nutrient-rich, well-draining soil, and the bed gets lots of full sunlight - the best conditions for these well-loved fruits. The strawberries did so well, I decided to lengthen the rows of strawberry plants to give them more room to grow and thrive.
Enjoy these photos.
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- Summer strawberries are among the most popular fruits here in the United States. I love eating strawberries fresh from the garden or as jams and jellies I make myself. Do you know why it is called a “strawberry”? One theory is that woodland pickers strung them on pieces of straw to carry them to market. Others believe the surface of the fruit looks embedded with bits of straw. Still others think the name comes from the Old English word meaning “to strew,” because the plant’s runners stray in all directions as if strewn on the ground.
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- Strawberry is a member of the Rosaceae family and goes by the scientific name of Fragaria x ananassa. Strawberries are native to temperature regions all around the world; however, it was the union of two species native to the Americas that developed into the garden strawberry. This is the strawberry patch behind my main greenhouse. Strawberries prefer to be in full sun, and well-drained, well-established, nutrient-rich soil. These plants grew so well this year, I decided to extend the rows.
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- Here is Brian removing some of the plants from the bed to be moved to the other end of this garden patch.
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- The plants were so prolific this year – look how green and lush the plants are, but they do need room to thrive. Even if they have started to root, they can be moved or redirected so that they are not crowded or growing into areas where they are not wanted.
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- Brian and Jimmy gathered all the plants to be moved and put them in crates set in the shade.
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- Brian sets up the twine, to make sure everything is lined up straight and perfect.
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- Before making the trench for planting, a line of twine is pulled down the length of the row. These trenches are 18-inches apart.
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- We followed the same lines we used for the original rows and just extended them. Here, Jimmy is measuring the space between the rows to make sure this last row is equally spaced with the others.
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- Using a heart shaped hoe, Brian starts by digging a shallow trench. Heart shaped hand hoes are great to use for getting under the soil to make these furrows or to weed.
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- Here is the trench made under the twine. The trenches should be large enough to accommodate the roots without bending them. Strawberries also need slightly acidic soil with a pH between 5.5 and 6.8.
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- Brian carefully places each plant where it will be planted. These are spaced a foot apart.
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- Many varieties of strawberries send out numerous runners throughout the season and fill in the space between plants, so it’s important to give them ample room.
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- These are the plant’s runners. Strawberry runners, also called stolons, are horizontal stems that grow along the ground. Each runner produces several new “daughter” plants that are still attached to the original “mother” plant. A daughter plant will grow roots where it touches the soil.
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- Strawberry is a herbaceous perennial. The plant has a short stem and trifoliate leaves which form a crown close to the ground.
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- Here is Jimmy planting. Planting strawberries at the right depth is important – if the crown is buried, the plant could easily rot.
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- Once the plant is at its proper depth, Jimmy backfills and tamps down lightly to ensure good contact with the soil.
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- Brian inspects one of the plants. We planted these in May as bare-root cuttings. They’ve all done so well since then – look how big this plant has grown. The varieties we planted include ‘Jewel,’ ‘Galletta,’ ‘AC Valley Sunset,’ ‘Earliglow,’ ‘Sparkle,’ and ‘Honeoye.’
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- This row is done and all these are planted properly – the crown of every plant is even with the soil line.
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- Jimmy continues down another row, spacing each one correctly and carefully.
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- Brian checks each plant just to make sure – we don’t want to overcrowd them.
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- Here are the extended rows. I am so pleased with how well they turned out. Next year, we’ll have an even larger bounty of wonderful, sweet, vitamin-C rich strawberries – I can’t wait.
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