A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum How to start a strawberry bed...?

Hi All
Any helpful hints on how I should start my strawberry bed. I found this old tire rim about 4' in diameter. I want to use this and create a raised bed out of it. What about soil, what's best and anything else I need to know.

I made me bed from concrete blocks, but before I added the blocks I added 160lbs of sand and 160lbs of cow manure compost. Tilled it all in and added a soaker hose to water from underneath. I only raised it 2".

And don't forget to plant your strawberry plants
half in and half out..
***If you bury them too deep, they will not like it***
~~~>kinda dig a hole the length of the roots,
stick the roots in, hold the plant out of the soil
and then shove the dirt around the roots,
keeping the plant above the soil line..

It seems wierd to have to do that, but thats' the
way they like it...
But make sure the soil is firmly around the roots.

Will they be alright when we get wind?

I'm planning on creating a raised bed for them in bit of a sheltered spot, but what about supporting the plants with covers or something....is that necessary?

Supporting them??
Not sure I am 100% clear on that?

They sprawl on the ground..

Another FYI, the first year you plant them,
you want to cut off any shoots they send off to
the side/or out..
You want them to get a good rooting system in..
and maybe even pinch off a couple of the first flowers.
That root system feeds those strawberries, and if it's
busy making strawberries or sending shoots out *that makes new plants* the roots won't get a good developement going on..

And for at least 3 years you don't want to let them send out shoots..
Maybe after the 4th.. and let those babies attach themselves to soil, and let them grow..
The momma plant won't live forever, a good handful of years,
but decline after a while...

And my strawberries are very hardy, I even over wintered some plants in a 6 pk container that never got planted...
and they did great for me the year I finally got them in.

The only covering you may need to do is to keep the birds out..
But remember snails, slugs, mice, woodchucks, rabbits, as well as birds eat them babies.. so, keep a watchful eye on them...

Okay, you're right silly me. I knew strawberry plants sprawl on the ground. Will do as you suggest. Should I be seeing any strawberries at all the first year?

The first year I pinched off half of all the first blooms but mine were everbearing and I did get a few after that. Next year, my bed was overflowing. My strawberry bed is only about 5 by 6 feet and I had more than enough.

That's about the size of bed I'll have tamara, and I'm planting the same strawberries, the everbearing ones.