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By: Clarence Binayu
From home-grown fruit plants come harvests which can best
be appreciated by someone who has actually eaten them. One's
first taste of a truly fine strawberry will soon point up
the tremendous gap which exists between such a fruit and the
run-of-the-field stuff sold at the supermarket.
The most important of all garden fruits is the strawberry.
It more nearly resembles a vegetable in its culture than does
any other fruit. It is not surprising that in many truck-gardening
areas growers switch from vegetables to strawberries and back
again almost at will. Although the strawberry plant is a perennial
and beds can be made to last for more than one year, best
commercial practice calls for a new planting each year. The
plants are grown in rows and for the first season need the
same cultivation as vegetable crops. The next season they
produce their best fruit. They can be left for four more years,
but true connoisseurs usually plow them under.
In the so-called hill system of growing, the mother plant
is kept pruned of all runners. This is the method by which
the home gardener can produce the largest and best-flavored
berries. The plants are usually set 12 inches by 24 inches
apart in the bed and kept free of weeds. Usually, a rather
heavy mulch is maintained on the bed. The plants are watched
constantly to prevent runners from rooting. While very large
berries are produced, production per square foot is probably
lower than when other methods are used. As can be imagined,
the labor required is considerable. About 100 plants are as
many as most home gardeners care to cultivate when the hill
system is used.
The variety used is important, since not all strawberries
do well when grown in this way. The Alpine variety “Baron
Solemacher” grown from seed will produce perhaps the
finest-flavored berries of all. These have the aroma which
makes wild strawberries such a delectable treat.
Where it will grow, the English 'Royal Sovereign' produces
superb berries by this system. These are of enormous size,
deliciously rich and sweet.
The matted-row system is exactly the opposite of the hill
method. The mother plants are set 24 inches apart in rows
36 inches apart. After fruiting, the mother plants are encouraged
to produce all the runners possible for twelve inches on either
side of the row. Any forming outside these limits are cut
off. This produces a matted row about 24 inches wide, with
a twelve-inch lane between the rows of plants.
One advantage of the matted row is that it provides plenty
of plants for setting new beds. The best way to produce these
is to use one of the new peat-and-fiber pots in which to root
them. These pots come in three-inch round or three-inch square
sizes, just right to produce a husky plant. The pot is filled
with a rich composted soil and plunged under a likely-looking
runner. By late August the rooted plant can be cut from the
parent plant and used to plant a new row. Although fall-planted
rows require protection for one additional winter, they are
usually more productive than spring-planted rows. They can
even be allowed to bear a light crop the first spring.
It is a well-accepted rule, however, that all spring flowers
should be removed the first season following planting. This
keeps the plant from fruiting. Once the spring bloom is over,
the June bearers (which produce only one set of flower buds
a year) will not bloom again.
The row system of planting is a compromise between the matted
row and the hill system. Here, plants are set 24 inches apart
in rows 36 inches apart. One runner is allowed to set in the
row on either side of the mother plant. In theory, each runner
is about eight inches long, so the finished row is made up
of plants spaced eight inches apart. Sometimes a second set
of runners is allowed to root at right angles to the row.
This leaves the mother plant with four runners surrounding
it. This is called the hedge-row system, since the bed resembles
a series of triple hedges.
Strawberries can be planted in the fall if pot-grown plants
are available. These are easy to plant, since they are set
just as deep as they grew in the pot. Plants in clay pots
will have to be knocked out (removed from the pot), but if
in peat-and-fiber pots, they are planted pot and all. Bare-root
plants can also be set in fall, but few nurseries have them
available at that time. Plants available in spring are usually
sold bare-root. They come tied in bundles. Before untying,
cut the roots to a uniform length, about four inches below
the soil line.
Cut off any dead or weak leaves, leaving only three or four
of the new, healthy, young leaves to form the new top. Now
the plant is ready to be set. In the average garden there
is not much choice of location. The strawberry does not like
heavy soils, and if only a clay loam is available, it should
be treated as mentioned under soil. A gardener's loam as mentioned
in that entry is the ideal toward which to strive, although
strawberries will do well in lighter sandy loams.
One of the most important steps in planting is to set the
plant so the dividing line between the roots and the top or
crown comes exactly at the surface of the soil. The crown
should never be buried nor should roots show above the ground.
Firm the soil around the roots so the crown will not be pulled
below the surface when the plants are watered. If dirt works
into the crown, it may rot.
Regular weeding is important, as strawberry plants make poor
competitors for vigorous weeds. Do not cultivate deeply close
to the plants and rooted runners, as these are shallow-rooted.
In regions where the thermometer can be expected to drop as
low as 12 above zero regularly, a mulch is necessary. This
is not, as many suppose, to keep the plants from freezing.
On the contrary, it is to keep them frozen in early spring
and prevent alternate thawing and freezing, which tend to
pull the plants out of the ground. Being shallow-rooted, strawberries
cannot resist the heaving action of frost.
In the South, a straw mulch is still desirable, largely to
keep down weeds. It is of little value, however, if straw
full of grain or marsh hay full of weed seeds is used. Clean,
grain-free straw is the ideal material, if it can be had.
An excellent substitute, much more readily available in most
city and suburban areas, is excelsior. Most retail stores
will be glad to give the home strawberry grower all he can
use.
The mulching material is dumped right over the plants. By
the time it settles, there should still be about three inches
of it over the leaves in the North. In the South, the tips
of the leaves should be showing. In spring, when the daffodils
are just showing yellow in their buds, pull away the mulch
from the tips of the leaves so they show through. The new
leaves will grow right through the mulch, which later will
keep the berries clear of the soil.
About The Author
Clarence B. is the founder and webmaster for http://www.landscaping.virtual-guides.com.
You will find FREE information about landscaping such as planning
your home landscape, preparing base plan, planning to suit
your needs, studying the home landscape site, landscaping
materials
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