Plant strawberries: And harvest them this summer

Gardening tips
Planting strawberries: This is how you grow the sweet fruits on the balcony and in the garden

On cake, in ice cream or for snacking: strawberries are a popular fruit for young and old from mid-May onwards. If you want to plant your own strawberries on the balcony or in the garden, there are a few things you should keep in mind.

Strawberries are one of the fruits that can be found in many gardens. The small red berries, which strictly speaking are not berries at all, are also being spotted more and more often on balconies. One reason: Strawberries are easy to care for and not particularly demanding. But above all, they are pretty tasty. And in order for your own harvest to work, you should not miss the right time to plant. Because that depends on how many fruits ultimately end up in the basket. Now there is no one perfect time to plant strawberries. This has to do with the different breeds and varieties. The article reveals which ones should be planted in the ground from May onwards, when single-bearing garden strawberries should be planted and which variety can be added to the bed or balcony box between March and September.

Planting strawberries in May: These varieties love it

Anyone who has missed out on cultivating their own strawberries will quickly find what they are looking for in stores in spring. There you can get pre-grown young plants in pots for little money. These are perfect for planting into May. Also Monthly and wild strawberries, also known as sweet strawberries, are best planted in spring, i.e. by mid-May. This is especially interesting for those who want to create a small orchard on the balcony. Important: The earlier you plant the strawberries, the sooner the first fruits will ripen. For seedlings planted in May, with appropriate care, you can still look forward to sweet surprises in September and October.

The vast majority of home garden strawberry varieties are single-bearing. This means that they only produce fruit once per season. They are highly aromatic. One of the most popular and tasty is “Kitty Schindler”.

As classic planting time Experts recommend for large-fruited (and single-bearing) garden strawberries End of June to August. But you should know that the first fruits can only be eaten in the summer of the following year. For very forgetful gardeners, so-called Frigo strawberries be the right thing. Because they don’t really care when they are planted. Frigo plants are removed from the mother strawberries in winter and then stored for several months at just below zero degrees. They can be planted at any time and bear the first ripe fruit after just eight to ten weeks.

If you want to harvest and snack on strawberries several times a year, you should choose the appropriate variety (for example “Sweet Brumme”) Plant in humus-rich soil in April if possible. Then you have a good chance of being able to bake a strawberry cake with your own fruit in the same year.

Planting strawberries: Which soil is best?

As already mentioned, strawberries are not particularly demanding. Nevertheless, it makes sense to bed them in nutrient-rich soil, especially in the first year. In the garden, plenty of humus, for example well-ripened garden compost, should be incorporated into the strawberry bed. About four liters per square meter is a good and sufficient amount. Special berry soil with all kinds of substrates does not harm the strawberries. Because the collected nuts are very frugal, they can usually survive without this special treatment.

When planting, you should make sure that the offshoots or young plants have enough space. Leave the seedlings about 25 centimeters of space within the row. If possible, there should be 40 centimeters of soil between the rows. You should also pay attention to this when planting:

Fertilizing strawberries: is it necessary?

Strawberry plants that bear multiple crops in particular tolerate one or two special treatments over the course of the gardening year. Organic berry fertilizers For these varieties, they should be thoroughly raked into the soil every two weeks. Attention: With special long-term fertilizers, a nutrient treatment at the beginning of the garden season, when the first flowers are visible, is sufficient. Too much fertilizer stimulates leaf growth and often delays flower formation. So you achieve exactly the opposite of what your goal is.

Sources: My beautiful garden

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