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How To Grow Strawberry
By Leeanne Utiger
I am going to tell you a bit about how to grow strawberries. Strawberries are a delicious summer fruit and many people simply love them. Strawberries can be grown in either the ground or in pots.
Strawberries need to be planted in a sunny, warm site. If planting your strawberry plants in the ground, wanting them to frow, make sure you do not plant in the same place of ground where you may have once planted potatoes. You do not want your strawberry plants catching a virus that your potatoes may have left behind.
Make sure you also add an amount of good quality compost. You will also need a net matting to cover your strawberry plants to keep the birds and other predators off them. You will also need to know how to care for your fruit once it begins to grow. You need to keep the fruit from touching the soil, so planting your strawberry plants in a pot can often be better than planting in the ground. Your strawberry plants will grow just as good, if not better when planted in a pot.
Did you know that strawberry plants have a 3 year cycle? You will more than likely grow a small crop of strawberry fruits the first year of planting, but then eth second year of planting you will be inundated with strawberries. At the end of the third season, you will need to then replant new strawberry plants.
Strawberries that are growing well, will in fact throw out bits called runners. When these runners get to the length of about 3 or 4 leaves, cut them of and plant them separately in a plant pot. Keep these well watered. However in the first year, do not let the runner crop grow fruit, just let the runner crop of strawberry plant grow leaves. Do not forget to label and date your runners.
If your strawberry plants are in the ground, make sure you know how to keep them well watered. When you are watering your strawberry plants in the ground, try not to water the fruit and also try not to splash any soil up onto the fruit. Neither the water nor the soil will do the strawberry fruits any good. It is suggested to in fact water your strawberries using a watering can. If you use a hosepipe you are likely to spread disease and your strawberries will not grow.
As the days go by, and your strawberries begin to grow, you can also feed them some additional plant food. You do not need anything specific. Any good plant food will do, although you can purchase from your local gardening store, specific plant food just for strawberries. It is also suggested that you feed your strawberry plants tomato plant food.
Strawberries are very tough plants, so if you have to, at any stage transplant them, by all means do so, you will not harm them in any way. If any leaves in your strawberry plants appear to be dead or dying, do not worry. Just simply remove them, there is nothing wrong with your strawberry plant. If you have any strawberry plants left in your garden over winter, it really doesn't matter about dead leaves, as the strawberry plant goes dormant at this time of year. You can even leave the dead leaves on the strawberry plant.
In the spring when you start to notice new growth on your strawberry plants, now is the time to remove any dead leaves and keep the plant well watered.
There is one other way you can learn to grow your strawberries, and that is in a bag, called a grow bag. You must make sure you once more keep them well watered and safe from slugs and other slimey creatures, such as snails and of course the birds. Grow bags have the habit of during out quickly, so keep checking on them regularly and make sure you always keep them moist.
Now that I have filled you in on how to grow strawberries and a bit about how to look after strawberries, both when they are in season and when they are not, how about you head down to your local plant store and buy some strawberry plants of your own.
See Also:
For more advice on how to grow strawberries, refer to:
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