Topic: Strawberry beds

[caseylee]

I have a smallish raised bed which I am going to leave in my home garden next to the greenhouse.  I have always grown strawberries in pots nver in a bigger area.  any tips please, how far apart do I space each plant, can I leave them them there over winter cause I beleive they grow back every year, and how to protect them from the birds.  I have bought fruit netting is that any good!!!

[star]

Hi Caseylee,

I have only small areas for my strawbs as well, I think they reccomend about a foot between plants. I put mine at about 9" apart because of limited space.

They are hardy, so do fine over winter. Try to get some straw later on to put around the crown before the fruit develops. Helps to stop the fruit touching the soil.

Yes netting for the birds is great. :D

[caseylee]

I also have some fresh horse manure could I put that at the bottom of the bed and then fill it with soil and then plan the strawberries would that be alright.  Also once I have planted the strawberries do you mean put straw around all of the plants so that the top is full of straw with the plants sticking out

[star]

I personally wouldn't put fresh manure in the bottom, its better rotted. Trouble with fresh manure is, as it rots it needs nitrogen to compost down. This robs the area of nitrogen that the plants need to grow.

Yes thats what I mean with the straw, but I would wait a while till the fruit sets. Or the straw will get wet now and possibly spread mould to your crop. ;)

[caseylee]

could I still plant them in the raised bed now even with all the rain we are having

[star]

I would be tempted to hang on, they are liable to rotting. Can you cloche the bed to keep the rain off for a week or so? It will warm the soil a bit as well.

[caseylee]

They are out in the garden at the moment in pots in the rain, but I ahve about 15 pots with them all around the garden that why I thouhg I would just make one or two raised beds for them to go in for the mean time

[manicscousers]

we put weed control on our strawberry beds, plant through it and put straw around the plants to protect the fruit..
ours are about the same spacing as Star's
watch out for the bad frosts we're due in the next couple of days if they're in small pots, don't know how they take to frozen roots..help, someone ?

we also use netting, make sure it doesn't rest just on the plants, raise it up if you can, we had blackbirds sitting on it last year, munching on the strawberries through it  :o

[sawfish]

I put manure at the bottom of a big tub and have them 4 inches apart. Works for me.

[davyw1]

If you are stuck for space and want to grow Strawberry,s and have a South facing fence have you considdered puting shelving along the fence and place your plantpots on it. Put a lat along the front to stop the pots from coming off. As the plant does not grow tall you can have as many shelves as you can get on and still grow veg below the bottom shelf.
I store my pots boxes etc below this.