Gardening 101: Strawberry - Gardenista
In our mind, fresh strawberries qualify as a different species from the store-bought, long-traveling variety. There are hundreds of cultivars of garden strawberries (which were first bred in Brittany in the 18th century), and wild strawberries (Fragaria vesca) are delicious as well.
Strawberry, Fragaria × ananassa: “Garden Venus”
Marie grows alpine strawberries in her New York City garden and harvests them for her Strawberry Shrub Recipe. Industrial agriculture has made strawberries one of the most heavily sprayed crops on the market and strawberries do not have the defense of skin or peel that other veggies have.
Photograph by Marie Viljoen.
Strawberries typically flower in clusters in late spring, with fruit following. You can buy established plants online or at your local nursery to plant early in the spring.
Photograph by Moja Commonswiki via Wikimedia.
Photograph by Maja Dumat via Flickr.
Keep It Alive
Photograph by Forest and Kim Starr via Flickr.
Do not plant strawberries where nightshades, brassicas, or strawberries have grown before.
Photograph by Marie Viljoen.
10 Secrets for Growing an Urban Balcony Garden. Use straw (or pine needles or chopped leaves) to mulch the berries, which will preserve irrigation, keep weeds down, and make harvesting an easier process.