The Strawberry Strategy

Reader Contribution by Sherry Leverich Tucker
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If you are a market gardener it makes a lot of sense to grow strawberries. If you have children, it also makes sense to grow strawberries. Furthermore, if you love strawberry shortcake and strawberry jam it makes sense to grow strawberries. I haven’t tried to grow strawberries in awhile, but I’m back in the saddle, trying it once more with some new strategies.

It seems to be the new trend with strawberry growing to start in the fall with a mounded bed, about 2 feet wide and covered with landscape paper or black plastic. It is also typical to run a soaker hose underneath the landscape paper for watering when they are first transplanted, and then in the spring when necessary. Purchased strawberry “plugs” are then planted about one foot apart, alternated from side to side of the raised bed and fertilized with high phosphorus fertilize blend to encourage root health (for example, bone meal). These “plugs” are small rooted strawberry plants usually sold in 25 – 50 pack trays from nurserys specializing in them, usually costing approximately 50 cents per plant. The strawberry plants are then mulched before a hard freeze and left till spring. When the weather warms they are uncovered to bloom and bear fruit. After all the fruit has been harvested the strawberry plants are ripped out and the beds used for other crops until fall. Then the process starts over again with preparing new beds and planting new plugs.

I have a philosophical issue with this system. It goes against my nature to both destroy and put no effort in utilizing something useful. I cringe at the thought of pulling up and discarding those healthy strawberry plants simply because they are done bearing fruit, for they are perennials, just like asparagus or other berry bushes. Of course it is a whole different matter if they are diseased or too old to produce abundantly, then it makes perfect sense to get rid of them. On the other hand, if they are not pulled up a lot of extra work is required to keep them weed and grass free, plus that garden space remains unusable for a bearing crop during the entire summer. I can completely understand how this is necessary in large scale market or commercial farming, but for the small scale home gardener or market farmer I wonder if there may be a more sustaining method.

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