How to grow them
Plant with the crown level with the soil surface. Late summer planting gives a full crop the next June. Tuck straw under the fruit as it swells to keep it clean, and net against birds.
Fruit and perennials
Strawberries
The plants crop well for three years. Peg down runners to make new ones for free.
- Buy as
- Young plants
- Space
- 35cm between plants, 75cm between rows
- Position
- Full sun
- Rotation
- Permanent bed
- Difficulty
- Easy
The year
Plant
Harvest
When to pick
Pick when red all over, with the stalk. Eat them the same day.
What goes wrong
Problems, and what to do
Birds
Net as soon as the fruit colours.
Slugs
Straw helps keep fruit off the soil.
Grey mould
Fluffy grey rot in wet summers. Give plants more space and remove affected fruit.
Good neighbours: Garlic, Spinach, French beans.
Same family
More from fruit and perennials
RaspberriesA row will crop for ten years. Autumn-fruiting kinds are the simplest: cut everything to the ground in February.
BlackcurrantsOne bush gives four or five kilos of fruit, and it asks for almost nothing.
GooseberriesThe first fruit of the summer, and happy in a shadier corner.
RhubarbPlant it once in a corner and it will outlast your tenancy.
AsparagusTwo years of patience, then twenty years of spears every May.