There is nothing quite like a sun-warmed strawberry picked straight from the plant and eaten on the spot, still warm and impossibly sweet. Shop-bought punnets simply cannot compete, and the good news is that learning how to grow strawberries is one of the easiest and most rewarding jobs in the garden. They thrive in beds and borders, but they are just as happy in pots, troughs, growing bags and hanging baskets, so you can grow your own even with the smallest patch of patio.
Types of strawberries to grow
Summer-fruiting strawberries give one big flush in June and July, and you can pick early, mid and late cultivars to stretch the season.
Perpetual strawberries (also called everbearers) produce smaller flushes from early summer right through to autumn.
Alpine strawberries are the dainty, intensely aromatic woodland sort, and are the one type often raised from seed. Grow a mix and you can be picking from early summer until the first frosts.
Growing strawberries in the greenhouse
A greenhouse or cold frame earns its keep with strawberries by forcing an earlier crop. Move potted plants under cover in February and you can be picking ripe fruit a couple of weeks ahead of everything outdoors, sometimes as early as late spring. Growing under glass also shelters the flowers and ripening fruit from rain and hungry birds, which is half the battle on a wet British summer. Stand your pots, troughs and baskets on the staging to keep them off a cold floor and close to the light. If you are short on room, even a compact patio greenhouse is enough to bring a few plants on early.
One thing to remember under cover: with the doors shut, you take over the bees' job. While plants are in flower, either open up during the day to let insects in, or dab the centre of each flower with a soft paintbrush to pollinate them by hand. Keep the air moving on warm days too, as still, humid conditions invite grey mould.
Growing strawberries from runners and young plants
This is the usual route, and by far the easiest. A strawberry plant naturally sends out runners, long stems carrying baby plantlets, and these rooted runners (or young pot-grown plants and plug plants from a nursery) establish quickly and crop in their first season. Choose a mix of summer-fruiting and perpetual varieties to spread the picking.
Top Tip: Planting depth is the one detail that catches people out, so it is worth getting right. Set each plant so the crown, the woody central part where the leaves emerge, sits exactly at soil level. Bury it too deep and the crown rots; leave it sitting proud and the roots dry out.
Pot plants up into peat-free compost in pots, troughs or hanging baskets, or plant them straight into a greenhouse-staged container, always with the crown level with the surface. Water in well to settle the compost around the roots.
Keep young plants somewhere bright and well watered while they settle. A seedrack or shelf lifts trays of plug plants up into the light and makes the most of a small greenhouse. Once the worst of the cold has passed you can move the pots outside, or keep a few under cover all season for the earliest and cleanest fruit.
Can you grow strawberries from seed?
Growing strawberries from seed is possible, but it is the slow road and mainly worthwhile for alpine types, which come true and are hard to find as plants. Hybrid summer and perpetual varieties rarely come true from seed, so for those, runners and young plants are the sensible choice.
When and how to harvest
The reward for forcing plants into the greenhouse is an early crop. Plants moved into an unheated greenhouse in February will usually give ripe fruit a week or two ahead of those outside, so you could be picking in late spring rather than waiting for June.
Top Tip: Pick strawberries only when they are bright red all over, as they will not ripen further once cut, and gather them during the warmest part of the day when they taste their best.
Growing strawberries in raised beds, pots and the ground (from plants and runners)
Outdoors, strawberries are happiest somewhere warm, sunny and free-draining. A raised bed is ideal, giving the sharp drainage they need and warming up faster in spring, which brings the crop on sooner. A metal raised bed will not rot or harbour slugs the way timber can, which suits a permanent fruit bed.
Top tip: Whether you grow in a bed, the open ground or containers, the golden rule is to keep the ripening fruit off wet soil: tuck a strawberry mat or a layer of straw under each truss as the berries swell, so they stay clean, dry and far less likely to rot.
When to plant strawberries outside
There are two main planting windows. Bare-root runners go in during early autumn (September or October) or in early spring (March or April), so they have time to root before they crop.
Pot-grown plants are more forgiving and can go in at almost any time through the growing season, as their roots are barely disturbed.
Where to position them
Pick a warm, sheltered spot in full sun, which is what gives strawberries their sweetness. They will tolerate a little light shade but crop more lightly for it. Avoid frost pockets, since late frosts can damage the open flowers and ruin the crop. Good airflow around the plants helps keep fungal problems at bay.
Top Tip: steer clear of ground where strawberries, potatoes or tomatoes have recently grown, to sidestep any build-up of soil-borne disease.
Watering, soil, spacing and planting depth
Soil: strawberries want fertile, free-draining soil with plenty of organic matter. Before planting, weed the bed thoroughly and work in a couple of bucketfuls of well-rotted compost or manure per square metre, ideally a few weeks ahead so the soil can settle.
Spacing and depth: space plants 30 to 45cm apart, in rows about 75cm apart, which gives each plant room to fill out and lets you get in to weed and pick. In containers you can plant a little closer, around 20cm apart. Set every plant with its crown right at soil level, neither buried nor proud, then firm gently and water well. This planting depth matters more than almost anything else, so it is worth double-checking before you firm each one in.
Watering and mulch: water new plants regularly while they establish, then in dry spells through summer, always aiming at the base and keeping the crown and fruit dry to avoid grey mould. Morning is the best time to water, so any splashes dry off. Mulch the bed in late winter with well-rotted compost, leaving a gap around each crown, and tuck straw or mats under the developing fruit.
Top Tip: Remove most runners through the season so the plants put their energy into fruit, though you can peg a few down into pots to make free new plants.
Strawberry companion plants
A little companion planting helps a strawberry patch thrive. Borage is the classic partner, said to improve flavour and draw in pollinators, while alliums such as onions, garlic and chives are thought to deter pests with their scent. Low, leafy neighbours such as lettuce and spinach make good ground cover at the edge of the bed, and beans help feed the soil as a useful nearby crop. Many gardeners also plant strawberries alongside asparagus, which appreciates the living mulch around its feet.
It pays to know what to keep away too. Avoid planting brassicas such as cabbage, kale and broccoli near strawberries, as they are greedy feeders that compete hard for the same nutrients. It is also wise to keep strawberries well away from any spot recently used for potatoes or tomatoes, since they share diseases such as verticillium wilt.
Strawberry pests and problems and how to avoid them
Strawberries are easy-going, but a handful of problems are worth heading off, and most can be handled without reaching for chemicals.
Birds are the number one nuisance, and a ripe, undefended bed will be cleared in no time. Net the plants before the fruit colours, using a sturdy frame of canes and taut, reused netting, or grow inside a fruit cage. Remove the netting once you have finished picking so birds can return and clean up any pests.
Slugs and snails love soft, ripe fruit sitting on damp ground, especially in a mild, wet British summer. Tucking straw or mats under the trusses keeps the berries up out of harm's way, and encouraging natural predators such as birds, frogs and ground beetles, along with tidying away debris, keeps numbers down. Pick off any you find on evening patrols.
Cooking with strawberries
Honestly, a ripe homegrown strawberry rarely makes it as far as the kitchen, and eaten just as it is, perhaps with a little cream, it is hard to better. When you have a glut, there is plenty more to do with them. A batch of strawberry jam captures the summer in a jar, and strawberries are made for pairing with cream and crisp meringue. Chef Gill Meller has shared some lovely seasonal strawberry recipes on the Rhino blog:
Strawberries do not keep long once ripe, so eat them within a day or two. Store them unwashed in the fridge and only rinse them just before eating, as washing too early makes them go soft. Any that are starting to turn are perfect for jam, a quick compote or the freezer, where they keep well for cooking and smoothies even if they lose their shape.
Few crops give back so much for so little effort. Get the crowns in at the right depth, keep the fruit off wet soil and the birds off the bed, and you will be picking sweet, sun-warmed strawberries all summer long, year after year.