Strawberries

Ease of Growing  [Scale 1-5] - 2 (Easy/Medium)

How Time Consuming

Relatively low during the growing season but a bit of time in the autumn if you want to propagate the runners.

Recommended Varieties

• 'Elvira' - a heavy cropper producing large, soft fruits from June to early July.
• 'Hapil' - high-yielding variety with large, bright red fruits from early to late July.
• ‘Cambridge’ – probably the most well know variety, reliable cropper in all conditions. Good for jams & preserves.

Home Grown Vs Supermarket

Like many fruit strawberries start to deteriorate once picked so there is not much more satisfying than growing your own home grown strawberries.  If it’s quantity you need and you haven’t got the space to grow them buy them from farmers markets or pick your own, avoiding packaging.

Best Sites and Soils

Plant into well-drained, fertile soil free from weeds.  Strawberries will thrive in sunshine but will tolerate light shade.  
Strawberries are easy to grow in containers such as strawberry pots, growbags, hanging baskets, troughs and tubs. Organic peat-free multipurpose compost is preferable.  

When to plant

Plant early autumn (under cloches) or mid-spring outside.
New plants can be propagated in late summer by inserting individual runners into pots.  Sever the new young plant from the parent plant after a few weeks when rooted.
Strawberry plants usually last for up to 4 years but to avoid disease build-up, move to a different site every 3 years.
Distance between rows - 1m (3ft) for weeding and harvesting.
Distance between plants - 40cm (16”) apart.

When to harvest       

Harvest mid summer when fruits are ripe and ready.