Strawberries

In my mind strawberries are to an orchard what vine ripened tomatoes are to the garden. They are the type of thing you just can’t get at the grocery store. To taste the magic of a vine ripened strawberry you just have to grow and pick it yourself.

Strawberries need cool soil temperatures to produce fruit. This means they do best when they are planted in a location that gets good morning sun and afternoon shade. They can be planted in scattered mounds or a single thick row.

The advantage of the scattered mound system is that for the first couple of years you don’t have to worry about thinning the plants and simply snake your way through the mounds picking. The disadvantage of the scattered mound system is that once they come into full maturity after 3 years you are dealing with pure chaos when you have to accept the fact that runner borne plants need to be transplanted in order to reduce crowding. Added to this is the fact that birds absolutely adore strawberries and a scattered mound system is harder to cover than a single long row.

Planting strawberries in a single row makes them easier to cover with protective netting. I have a series of 2” X 4” boards driven into the soil so the top is 18 inches above the ground to give added lift to the netting. This is convenient for picking as I simply walk down the row quickly folding back edges enough that I can make the quick pick before moving on.

Strawberries can take damage to their tender roots during a hard winter. If you live in growing zone 5 or colder you should burry strawberry plants under 4 inches of mulch just before the first hard frost.

Growing zone: 3 to 9

Time to maturity: 1 year

Pollination needs: Self pollinating

Pruning/Thinning:  After 3 years plants will be established and may become crowded. You can avoid crowding by transplanting runner borne plants in early fall. I simply walk down the row with a cardboard flat pulling out stray plants from the row as I cover the main row with mulch. The stray plants are then added to the end of the row or used to start a new row.

Harvest time:  Varies depending on type. See below.

Excluding Alpine berries which are more of a landscaping strawberry that you start from seed; there are essentially two different types of strawberries, June-bearing and Ever-bearing.

June-bearing strawberries produce a large amount of berries from early June until early July. They spend the rest of the growing season sending runners out to propagate new plants for next season. In general June bearing plants do poorly their first year. After that they produce nicely from year 2 through 4 before needing to be thinned out of the row or mound.

Ever-bearing plants produce a small amount of berries in early summer and late summer through early fall. Unless it’s a cool, wet summer the ground is usually too warm for ever-bearing strawberries to produce fruit in mid-summer.

For my time and money June-bearing strawberries planted in long, 3 foot wide rows are the way to go. In my experience the total amount of berries you get in that 4 to 6 week production period in early summer is still more than the total you get from the same number of ever-bearing plants.

June-bearing plants will even give you more flowers and fruit if you give them a dose of phosphorus rich fertilizer once a week starting as soon as the ground thaws.

Long term storage options: You can quick freeze strawberries if you lay them in a single row on a sheet pan in your freezer, if you turn it on the lowest setting so the fan starts blowing. The key is to freeze them as fast as possible.  After 4 to 6 hours they should be frozen rock hard and can be kept in zip-top bags for 3 to 6 months before they freezer burn.  However, when you thaw them you will still see a good amount of liquid that releases from the fruit.

Strawberry jam made from vine ripened berries, reduced on low heat, with low-sugar pectin is only slightly less magical than unicorns.

Strawberry wine, while it might be a cliché in several country music songs, is ultimately a great base for a standalone wine or to be used as a blend with other fruit.