How to Grow Strawberries at Home – Container Gardening
Winters translate to strawberries for me. But as much as I love the fruit, it is often difficult to find fresh, organic produce in the market. Hence I always prefer to grow my own supply of strawberries at home – some for eating and some for freezing (off-season cravings!). This season has been weird for strawberries – usually I start them from seed, but this time, the seeds didn’t sprout, there were no seedlings in nurseries and hardly any fruit in the market-until recently.
Anyway, so I finally found these 6 plants at a nursery selling for Rs.30 each (very cheap, maybe because of no buyers) and I decided to plant them even though late. I prefer growing strawberries in pots since I can control watering, mulching and preventing them from rotting due to touching the soil.
This 18″ cement pot works well to hold 6 plants since the season will be over before they can spread. If you are planting early, I would advise only 3 plants per large pot. Strawberries propagate by runners, producing new plants when given enough time & space.
*You can also grow strawberries from seed, for a detailed seed-sowing guide – CLICK HERE
So I removed all plants from the packets & spread them out.
The point to be taken care of is that like Gerberas, it is important to keep the CROWN ABOVE SOIL level otherwise the plant will rot. Bury only the roots in the soil carefully.
How to prevent Strawberries from spoiling on touching soil?
This is a very important aspect of growing strawberries. As the fruit develops, it tends to fall onto the soil and rots from the bottom. So it is very important to protect them. Commercial growers use a variety of techniques & equipment but at home, I have a simple solution – COCONUT HUSK. Just collect the husk from brown coconuts and mulch the plants. you can keep adding more as the plants grow. It protects the fruit as it grows and later on you can simply turn it into the soil – organic, cheap & easy!
That’s the first fruit coming up!
Do you grow strawberries too? share your tips & experiences!
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