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In My Garden Blog

June 5, 2008
New England
By Kathy Bond Borie,
Richmond, Vermont

Hard as it may be, it's important to pinch off the first wave of strawberry flowers the first year to help the plants get established. Next year, you'll be rewarded.

Strawberry Season

Strawberry rhubarb pie is one of my favorite springtime treats, and although I grow both rhubarb and strawberries, I've never been able to make a pie using only fresh fruit from my garden. The rhubarb is always past its prime by the time the strawberries ripen. This year I've been cutting off the rhubarb flower stalks as soon as they appear in hopes of extending the harvest, but the berries still don't have a glint of red.

Rhubarb couldn't be easier to grow, but strawberries are another matter. Planting a strawberry bed is simple enough; it's what comes afterwards that tends to get out of hand -- the runners, the weeds, the weeds ... and the weeds. I don't know how people can even think of keeping a strawberry bed without using mulch to suppress weeds between all those mother and daughter plants. A thick layer of hay works great and lets me focus on training the runners. This can be a real perplexing proposition.

There are different methods for spacing and training plants, and it all boils down to type of berry (June-bearing, everbearing, or day-neutral) and whether you want fewer berries and less work, or more (and sometimes bigger) berries and more work. I opted for the former with my first strawberry patch, but I wised up when the patch quickly became overgrown and produced poorly. I didn't have enough berries at any one time to make shortcake, and after all, that's what it's all about! So here are some better alternatives for a more productive patch.

Matted Row
June-bearing varieties are best planted about 18 to 24 inches apart in rows 3 to 4 feet apart. This is the ideal scenario for best yields but you can adjust the distance between rows to work with the space you have available. When the mother plants send out runners, let them root and form a matted row. Do limit the width of the rows, however, to about 24 inches, or the plants in the center are likely to be unproductive.

Spaced Row
For a bigger harvest, train your June-bearing plants a bit more to limit the number of daughter plants. They will have more room to grow without competition for water and nutrients and, in some cases, sunlight. Space some of the offspring to root no closer than 4 inches apart, and remove the rest of the daughter plants. Some people recommend spacing them no closer than 9 inches apart, so there's lots of wiggle room. If you have to move a runner, just weigh it down with soil until the plant sends out new roots -- don't sever the daughter from the mother plant.

Hill System
This system works well for everbearing (intermittent fruiting throughout the summer) and day-neutral (continuous fruiting) varieties. Make long hills about 8 inches high and 2 feet wide. Stagger the plants about 12 inches apart in two rows along the length of the hill. Remove all runners so the plants focus energy on producing fruit.

Pruning Flowers
Pruning the flowers the first year you plant is another chore that can make a difference in just how many people you can invite over for shortcake at any one time. The June-bearing varieties need to devote energy into producing new daughters and flowers for the next year's peak fruiting in June. So pinch off all flowers the first year you plant. The everbearing and day-neutral strawberries don't need as much time to "bulk up" because they don't produce as many runners, so pinch off the flowers until July and then let them fruit.

Strawberry beds have a limited span of productivity -- three or four years. If you have the space, you could have two strawberry beds -- one to bear fruit and one to plant anew with next year's fruit-bearers. Otherwise, you'll need to renovate the June-bearer's bed every year by mowing over it with a lawn mower after fruiting. Then thin the plants to the correct distance apart.

Everbearing and day-neutral plants also should be thinned in subsequent years to keep them from becoming overgrown. In general, keep only the first daughter of each runner because it will bear better than a second or third daughter on that same runner.

Strawberries are such aggressive spreaders that all of this training and thinning is really important. I let things go the end of last summer and just had to reclaim a pathway next to the strawberry patch that they had taken over. But the lip-smacking strawberry shortcake will make it all worthwhile.

Hi Kathy,

I found your article on strawberries timely. I have a small
hoophouse or high tunnel. In the past I used it to grow tomatoes in
our frost-challenged valley. This year I am trying out some
birdhouse gourds in the hoophouse, and the tomatoes are in the
regular garden beds covered with row covers made of polyester. I am
wondering, if next spring,I could grow strawberries in it to ripen
earlier?  I know commercial growers now do this to extend their
season. Any thoughts? I think other hoop house owners would be
really pleased if NGA would include more info on these little
greenhouse wannabe's! Thanks, Helen  

Hello Helen,

Grow tunnels are very handy for getting an early start on a crop and
extending the season into the fall. Strawberries are pollinated by
bees so you'd want to remove the covers when the plants flower so
they will get pollinated. Gourds are also insect pollinated so the
covers should be removed from the plants when flowers form. Or you
could transfer the gourd pollen yourself by picking a male flower
and shaking it over the female flowers, or by gently transferring
the pollen with an artists' paintbrush or a cotton swab to the
female flowers. Tomatoes are technically self-pollinating but
sometimes they need help if grown in a greenhouse where there's no
wind to help move the pollen around. If you want to keep the plants
in a greenhouse or grow tunnel, you should gently shake or vibrate
the entire plants to spread the pollen. Also keep in mind that
temperatures heat up under covers and tomatoes can fail to set fruit
if the nighttime temperatures around the plants are above 75
degrees. Good luck with your crops!

Hello there. I have a strawberry beds of early bloomers that is
doing very well, and I have had this for about 15 years. If I want
to create a new bed, which plants do I move please? Mothers or
daughters? Thank you, Pam

Hello Pamela,

That's impressive that your strawberry bed has been producing for 15
years. You must give it lots of nourishment and care. To start a new
bed, separate some daughter plants and use them. I just picked the
first berries -- not enough for shortcake but delicious with sorbet.

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