Emily Chan
The best-tasting strawberries are the ones eaten straight from the garden. The taste of home-grown strawberries is far more flavorful than any you can get at a grocery store.
The bright red berries may seem difficult to grow, but it’s actually fairly simple to tend to them. So with the strawberry season quickly approaching, learn how to start your own strawberry patch so you’ll have juicy, luscious fruits waiting for you to enjoy in the summertime.
There are three main types of strawberries you can grow at home: June-bearing, everbearing, and day-neutral.
June-bearing strawberries produce a large crop in mid-June to early July. It takes about four weeks for them to go from flowers to fruit.
They yield a bigger bounty than other varieties, but they will stop generating fruit after the first harvest. This variety of strawberries is recommended for gardeners who live in colder, northern regions.
When planting them, do it in early spring and set them in rows four feet apart. Place the strawberry plants themselves two feet apart.
Strawberries produce runners, which are long stems that take root wherever they touch the ground. That’s why it’s essential to give your strawberries enough room to grow. When it becomes too crowded, the plants produce less fruit that is also smaller in size.
Everbearing and day-neutral strawberries continue to flower throughout the summer months, unlike the June-bearing ones.
Everbearing types produce two crops, one in June and one in September. Day-neutrals produce more minor crops all throughout June and September.
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