Growing In My Garden

Do you get many strawberries from your efforts?  I planted strawberry plants last season and have averaged about 3-4 berries per plant.  Actually, bugs and birds have gotten them…

Any other plant, I’d have ripped them up and tossed them as a failure.  I’ve read that each plant should produce a pint of berries per season.  So, what am I doing wrong?  Pretty much everything, it seems.

First, I live in the south and we have clay soil.  Strawberries are commercially produced in sandy soil and while they will grow here, that doesn’t mean they will be happy and productive!

Strawberry plants thrive in acid soils — ours is alkaline. Strawberry plants yield more and sweeter berries when growing in sandy soils — ours is clay. Strawberry plants enjoy soils high in organic matter — ours is extremely deficient.  They greatly prefer potting soil to whatever we have in the yard. So far, I’ve tortured them with everything they don’t want and nothing they do.

The right time to plant strawberries is September; I planted in the spring.  Rule is, plant in September, harvest in April.  I planted in March and wonder why I have a weak harvest.

All blooms and runners that are produced in the fall should be removed until Christmas to encourage strong plant growth.  Mine did nothing last Fall.  These plants, fortunately, do not freeze in the winter.

Plants should be thinned to 12″ apart for maximum production.  Mine are plenty far apart and, for all the reasons listed above, have done very little spreading.  Strawberry plants need 8 hours of sunlight a day.  Mine get that – one thing in the “correct” column.

Not to be deterred, I am changing their environment.  I’ve been pouring sand onto their soil (yes, I have) to see if we can create a more “fluffed up” environment for them.  Next, I’m adding sphagnum peat moss to make their soil more acidic.

I’ll keep you posted!