Intro
Nothing says welcome to summer like the freshly picked sweet decadence of a sun warmed strawberry!! If you haven’t had the chance to try a strawberry fresh from the plant you are missing out!! There are an abundance of varieties to choose from for almost any garden or patio, from wild strawberries to the prolific June-Bearers, to the consistent producers of the Day Neutral berries. Strawberries can be eaten fresh, cooked into jams and pies, used in wines, smoothies and syrups.
History
The strawberry was native to North America and indeed to many continents long before it became a cultivate garden staple. The first peoples were gathering and using the fruit in cooking long before the colonists arrived. The Ancient Romans wrote about the wide range of medicinal uses of the strawberry. In the middle to late 1300’s the French began introducing wild strawberry plantings into their gardens. By the late 1700’s to early 1800’s strawberry hybrids were beginning to be more widely planted across Europe and North America.
Planting
Strawberry plants will thrive and produce when they get at least 6hrs of sun and are planted in a silty loam or sandy loam soil with a PH between 5.5 and 6.5. They absolutely need good drainage and an even soil temperature in order to produce fruit. They appreciate a mulch of some kind such as straw, pine needles, hem-fir mulch, and it is a good idea to apply a good organic berry fertilizer in the spring. Strawberries can be grown from seed or small plants in the spring and are a relatively hardy and vigorous perennial often producing runners (small plantlets). These runners can be removed to encourage more fruiting. You can replant them or even share with friends and family.
Pollination
Many different pollinators love the simple open flowers of the strawberries and help to distribute the pollen. Strawberries have male and female parts on their flowers. Although some pollen is distributed by wind and gravity, bees, wasps, butterflies and beetles. Field mice distribute the bulk of the pollen and are at least partially responsible for the productivity. If you are growing strawberries on a top balcony with very little pollinator evidence around you can help to pollinate your strawberry flowers with a cotton swab or a paintbrush.
Container
Strawberries can be successfully grown in larger containers and some small containers, provided you can maintain drainage and an even temperature. Smaller containers can be grouped together or can be shaded at the bottom by rocks etc. in order to keep the soil from fluctuating between hot during the day and cold at night.
Types
Strawberries are actually now grouped into 3 categories based on how they set flowers (and fruit) according to light.
The three categories are short day, long day and day neutral.
The Short day category of strawberries are often called June-Bearers, they set flowers when the days are shorter than 10 hours of sunlight. They tend to produce the largest amount of berries than any of the other varieties and typically ripen in June.
The Long day category of strawberries are plants that produce fruit when the daylight exceeds 10 to 12 hours. An example of the long day plants is: Fragaria vesca which is also a wonderful woodland type groundcover with small delicious strawberries.
The Neutral day variety of strawberry sets flowers when the temperatures are between 8 and 30 degrees Celsius and do not rely on the daylight hours. These plants produce in 6 week peaks or cycles during the late spring and summer.