How to Grow Strawberries in a Small Garden

Plant Strawberry Runners in the Autumn for a Good Harvest Next Year

Mar 19, 2009

Strawberries are among the most delicious soft fruit and very easy to grow. A few strawberry plants in a sunny corner of the garden will give a tasty crop for 2-3 years.

Strawberries and cream are one of summer’s delights, doubly so if you are growing your own strawberries and they come freshly picked from your own garden. Any gardener can produce a tasty and worthwhile strawberry crop with very little time, space or effort, but it’s important to begin planting in autumn for a good first year crop.

Choosing Your Strawberry Plants

You can grow strawberries from seed, but this is not really worth the time and effort.

Normally, garden centres or growers will offer plants as runners (rooted offshoots), or ready potted plants. There is little to choose between them if you're buying from a good supplier, but runners are usually cheaper. Potted plants will probably produce a larger first year crop from an autumn planting and, if you can’t plant in autumn, will even fruit the same year after spring planting.

Look out for good sturdy plants with fresh green leaves and no sign of wilting. Make sure that the roots of runners haven’t been allowed to dry out.

There are many different varieties to choose from, varying in taste, texture, size, time of fruiting, and keeping qualities. Choosing which strawberry to grow is very much a matter of personal taste; one old favourite is Cambridge Favouriter ( a main crop strawberry which keeps well) but Elsanta (generally considered to have a better flavour) is now more popular.

Planting Strawberries

The best time for planting is September or October, although you can plant pot grown strawberries in spring and still get a crop.

Strawberries are a hungry plant and need full sun and good drainage for a good crop. They prefer sandy and slightly acid soil. If you have heavy or poorly drained soil, it’s better to grow your strawberries in growbags or other containers.

Prepare the soil well and enrich with compost, well rotted manure if available and an organic fertiliser like bone meal. A boost with a high potash feed such as Tomorite when the buds form will help fruiting, but avoid high nitrogen feeds which will stimulate top growth at the expense of the fruit.

Plant the plants 12-15 inches apart with 30 inches between rows. Set the base of the crown level with the surface of the soil. Planting too deeply will encourage rot.

Water in well, suppress any weed growth, and encourage maximum root growth by trimming off any buds which form before the winter.

Mulching

Strawberries need mulching both to suppress weeds and to protect the fruit from soil splash. Traditionally, this is done by spreading straw between the plants, but this is time consuming and needs repeating.

The modern technique is to use black plastic sheeting which performs both functions, warms the soil to stimulate growth and retains moisture. Before planting, lay the sheeting down to cover the planting area, weighting the edges securely with soil or stones. Cut a cross in the plastic at each planting station, fold back the plastic and plant a strawberry plant through each hole. Finally, replace the plastic, making sure not to cover the crown of the plant.

Future Crops

Strawberries cultivated in this way, with the dead top growth removed after fruiting and an annual top dressing each year, should produce a good crop for three years, after which the plants should be destroyed, after removing fresh runners to replace them (but don't replant in the same soil).

The copyright of the article How to Grow Strawberries in a Small Garden in Orchards/Fruit Gardening is owned by Tony Allen. Permission to republish How to Grow Strawberries in a Small Garden in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.