Grow Strawberries This Year in Your Own Yard

Ah! Strawberries! Who can resist the wonderful taste of a strawberry? Well, I suppose it is easy for someone who is allergic to them. In fact, strawberries would be grown even more if there were not so many people who are allergic to them. As for the rest of us, we will enjoy eating them the rest of our lives.

Now that your taste buds are tingling for the taste of one right now, why not learn how to grow these tasty fruit treats? They are not that hard to grow and can be grown indoors under the right conditions. I have often thought of picking off the seeds from one instead of spending more money on a package of their seeds.

The only drawback to growing strawberries on your own - outside - is making sure they get enough sun, and hope for the best that some critter or neighbor doesn't get to them before you do. You would think that there would be more people growing their own strawberries out of reach of these passersby.

Make sure you know which type of strawberries you are buying before you plant them. Day bearing strawberries produce from spring on into fall. The drawback with growing this particular strawberry is that its fruit is smaller. It also does not send out very many runners. Therefore, you will need to plant plenty of them if you want many strawberries.

The 'everbearing' strawberries are the second larger size of this fruit. You may have as many as three crops out of the everbearing variety during the growing season. Just make sure you are planting them in full-sun, or if indoors under a plant or "grow" light for at least six hours a day.

The most widely grown strawberry is the "June" variety. They can grow throughout the typical growing season and put off many runners. You need to space these up to 18 inches from each other to prevent them from becoming entangled with one another.

Planting strawberries intermittently through the year may be advantageous as this will allow you to have strawberries on a daily basis. Say if you eat about a dozen, or your family consumes a couple dozen a day, having many plants will ensure their abundance. The best times to plant them is in late spring or early fall.

Try not to use chemicals to promote growth as this is really not needed and can actually harm the plants and fruit. Just make sure your soil is somewhere between a PH level of 5.8 to 6.2. This is just a little above and below a neutral soil. Strawberries grow best in a sandy rich compost mix. You can even purchase a soil mix particularly for strawberries at your local nursery garden.

Strawberries do like to have plenty of water when they are out in the sun. They can be over watered easily. You will find that watering them early in the morning is more beneficial than in the evening. Whether you choose to start them from seed or already established plants is up to you. This fruit is not as hard to grow as many make it out to be. You can even find special planter pots to grow them in, too.

Sources:

Personal Experience,
http://fun.familyeducation.com/environmental-education/plants/37224.html,
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/gardening/good-idea-growing-strawberries-in-hanging-bags-050891,
http://www.easy-strawberry-recipes.com/growing-strawberries.html