If you’ve never grown your own strawberries, prepare your tastebuds for an adventure- because here’s the planting guide to grow strawberries!

But why grow strawberries? Savoring the melt-in-your-mouth juiciness of freshly picked strawberries is but one reason to grow your own. As the first fruits to ripen in spring, strawberries are nutritious assets to any garden.

I am sweet and juicy 
I wonder why I have to wait 'till 
Spring to bloom and grow
I hear the birds: they're back
And flitting, flying by the sun 
I see the patch is getting 
Picked: the caring hand 
Approaches. 

I understand i'm good for you
I say i'm nature's candy 
I dream of rhubarb, crust, and cream
I try to bring the taste of spring 
I hope i'm picked eral ripe and red, then 
I am sweet and juicy. 

Pluck the berry 
In the summer sun,
Pinch the stem, 
Have some fun, 
Twist the stem, 
Almost done. 

Put the berry 
In a cup. 
Better yet, 
Just eat it up! 

Quick facts :

• Strawberries need full sun to produce maximum fruit.
• Space plants 12 to 18 inches apart.
• Strawberries are self-fertile, but require bees for pollination.
• Remove some of the runners throughout the season or your strawberry plants will take over your yard.
• After removing flowers for a few weeks after planting, you can pick fruit later that summer.
• One June-bearing plant can produce up to 120 new daughter plants in one season. 

And there is types of strawberries, so if you want to grow strawberry indoor. You could plant the Alpine strawberry which is “short and sweet”. And there is so many types that it i would need to write the next 10 post about types, so I recommend that if you want to grow your own strawberry search on google, strawberry that fit your environment and the space you have to them.

Most strawberries fall into two categories: summer-fruiting or June-bearing varieties, which produce their fruits in one go over a few short weeks in early summer, and everbearing or perpetual varieties, which give two smaller harvests – the first in early summer then a second towards the end of summer. And then there are the day-neutral strawberries, which crop on and off throughout the growing season. If you love strawberries, be sure to plant a range of varieties so you can pick fruits over a longer period.

Where to grow strawberries

The very best-tasting fruits grow in full sunshine. Pick a sunny, sheltered site in fertile, free-draining soil that’s ideally slightly acidic. You can easily improve soil by digging in lots of organic matter before planting – compost or well-rotted manure is ideal. A general-purpose organic fertilizer will give your new plants an extra boost. Avoid frost-prone spots if you can, so that early flowering varieties aren’t damaged, and don’t plant them where tomatoes, potatoes or chrysanthemums recently grew, because these plants are susceptible to verticillium wilt, a disease that is easily passed on to strawberries.

Strawberries may also be grown in containers, towers and even hanging baskets, making them a fantastically flexible fruit!

Growing strawberries

Water plants regularly as they establish and during dry spells. Try to avoid wetting the leaves when you water, to reduce the risk of disease. Container-grown strawberries are likely to need watering more often as the potting soil can quickly dry out in warm weather.

Strawberries put a lot of effort into swelling their fruits, so top up soil fertility before plants resume growth each spring by tickling in a general-purpose organic fertilizer to replace lost nutrients. Container strawberries will need feeding as often as once a week from the moment they come into flower. Use a liquid fertilizer that’s high in potassium, such as a store-bought tomato feed or homemade comfrey feed, for this.

Harvesting strawberries

Pick your strawberries when they are fully ripe all over. If you can, pick them on a sunny afternoon, when their flavor will be more concentrated. You can store them in the refrigerator, but this comes at the cost of taste, so leave them at a cool room temperature if possible – after all, it won’t be long before they’re snaffled up!

At the end of season, give plants a tidy up. Remove any straw or strawberry mats, weed through the bed then cut back the old foliage to leave just the fresh new growth right at the center of the plant. Plants should do you proud for at about three seasons, after which it’s time to replace them, planting in fresh soil elsewhere in the garden.

I hope you’ll try growing some strawberries in your own garden – it’s really worth it! Please leave a comment below to tell me what varieties you recommend.