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How to Grow Strawberries

The most exciting fruit in your garden has to be strawberries, they fruit earliest and give you the first true taste of summer! For generations, the Heeman name has been synonymous with growing high quality strawberries, so we’ve put together a guide to growing your own strawberries at home.

Strawberries can be planted between late April and the end of May, ideal the beginning of May. To have strawberries for as long as possible select multiple varieties, like an early and late season producer. Strawberries fruit for approximately two weeks so having more than one variety will extend your season and allow you enjoy them longer.

Wendy Strawberries
Jewel Strawberries
Wendy 🍓

Early June Variety

Jewel 🍓

Mid Season Variety

Malwina 🍓

Very Late Season Variety

How to Plant Strawberries

Strawberries can grow in nearly any soil type but prefer a well-drained loam soil with a pH above 6.0. If you are unsure of your soil type or pH, don’t worry, strawberries are resilient. It’s important the the ground you plant them in has proper drainage and a good rotation. Don’t plant strawberries into the same ground you had strawberries in within the last 5-8 years, as it can still have soil diseases that will infect your plants and cause poor performance. Each soil type will give a distinct flavour to the strawberry, like grapes in a wine, so you may find your garden produces a berry that taste different than it does from our fields.

Soak the strawberry plants in water for five minutes before planting.  Plants are normally grown in rows spaced 38” – 48” apart and planted with 12″ spacing. When planting your strawberry roots, stick your trowel deep in the soil, pull it back to create a gap and stick the root in the gap. You should be burying all the roots but be careful not to cover the crown (heart) of your plant. If you are unable to plant as soon as you get your new plants home, you can store them in the refrigerator.

Steps for Planting Strawberries:

General Care & Overwintering

Strawberries are a thirsty plant and show be watered like any garden crop in after planting. We recommend you avoid applying any fertilizer in the first three weeks after planting to avoid burning emerging roots. After this time period a weekly application of a water soluble fertilizer, such as 20-20-20 is advised.

During the first year you plant your strawberries, it’s a good idea to remove fruit blossoms as they appear, to help encourage plant and runner growth. Blossoms will stunt the development of your plant and reduce the size and quantity of fruit in future years.  When runners form on your plant it’s a good idea to push them into the row so they can fill in the space between your ‘mother’ plants and create a thicker row of plants.

A mulch of straw or leaves can be placed upon rows of plants in October to prevent winter injury to the strawberry crowns. Remove straw from on top of the plants in spring prior to dormancy break around April 1st.

This is a guide to growing a June-bearing strawberry varieties. If you are interested in growing everbearing strawberries, we recommend you read our guide Growing Everbearing Strawberries. The growing system they require to grow ideal is to costly and labour intense to replicate at home. You may not find as much success with growing everbearing strawberries and we can’t guarantee that they will grow as quickly or as big as our’s at Heeman’s.

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