Growing Strawberries

I have tried to grow strawberries over the years with a lot of trouble. I bought some strawberry roots one year and nothing ever grew, I sowed some strawberry seeds and nothing grew. Last year I bought one strawberry plant and I had a few strawberries from it, but mostly some animal came and ate them before I got to them. 

So this year I bought a few strawberry plants and set them in one of my raised garden beds. They shared the space with some bush beans. They did well this year. It also helps to read about each vegetable or fruit that you want to grow so you really know what you're doing.

There were quite a few strawberries on the plants and they were really sweet although small.

At first it produced really small strawberries, but they did get a little bigger then this later on.

Even last week I was still seeing more strawberries and flowers and it is October now.

Here is my biggest harvest of strawberries, not much for 3 plants, but the best crop of strawberries I've ever had so far. I guess any progress is a good thing.

I learned that strawberries will come back each year and that you should have a dedicated space in your garden for them. So now they have taken over one of my garden beds. I plan to add more to the other side of the garden bed this year as well. They are a fairly easy fruit to grow. I have also learned that bird netting over the top of the garden bed is necessary unless you want to share your strawberries with all the furry and feathered creatures around your yard. In my case, my chickens love the strawberries and I have to pick them after they are locked in their coop for the night or they will steal them from me.

My strawberries are ready for the winter now. I put some mulch of leaves around them to keep the soil warm for them and it will decompose and give them nutrients over the winter.

So next spring I'll purchase a few more plants to add to my strawberry garden bed and I will also try to use some of the off shoots that the vines produce to add more plants to the garden.