Please help ~~Strawberries??

[Patch of Heaven Farm]

Hi! I need help with planning for strawberries. I want to have enough strawberries for my family to eat and enough for preserves/canning, plus with hungry neighbors always stopping by. :watering I also need to know if I should put them in a raised bed or in rows in the garden. Also when is the best time to plant? I live in southern Ms zone 8b I think. Oh and there is 4 in my family but my mom and dad and sister live next door and we all love strawberries!! Thanks~Jessica

 

[vfem]

I think its the first week of march to plant, and I would probably go with already started plants as from seed I think its too late to get any this year.

I don't think it matters raised bed or not, but I would definitely put bird netting over them since you need to be able to salvage so many for your family and to save.

50-75 plants maybe? Don't quote me on that.

ETA:

 

[Madfarner]

Well, the best thing to have done would be to Fall-plant them. The problem is finding plants in the fall, but there are a few sources. So get them in as early as you can. Strawberries are HEAVY feeders. They do best in a raised bed, or at least elevated to provide excellent drainage. Give them the best soil possible: lots of compost worked in at least a week before planting. Simmons Plant Farm (website) in Arkansas has good plants. Plant as many as you have room for or are willing to pick. Strawberries NEVER go to waste! Earliglow is a good variety. Avoid Chandler. It's a commercial variety--big, red berries that taste & crunch like cucumbers.

Madfarmer

 

[Patch of Heaven Farm]

Thanks vfem and Madfarmer for the info!! :tools I have been researching and there is so much info it can get confusing!! LOL But I will get hubby started making me some beds tommorrow! I can't wait to get them in the ground even though I know it will be awhile for we can get berries but it will be worth the wait! :rainbow-sun

 

[Rosalind]

You will require 100 strawberry plants/family member. I'm serious. I plant about 125/family member to get enough for our needs, and we still don't have enough between slugs, birds, and deer.

 

[beavis]

You will require 100 strawberry plants/family member. I'm serious. I plant about 125/family member to get enough for our needs, and we still don't have enough between slugs, birds, and deer.

Yep!

They usually sell the plants in bundles of 25 bare-foot at the nursery.

Bear in mind, most strawberries will replicate via runners pretty rapidly...

These are some strawberries in my daughter's garden that we are going to transplant into another area of our property, its almost wall to wall strawberries now due to the runners off of the mother plants...

Even more!

 

[obsessed]

I wish I could have strawberry plant!!!! I just paid $9 buck for a jar of preserves at the farmers market. A bit over priced but it is so good.

 

[Patch of Heaven Farm]

Thanks! I will plan to plant 100-125 per person now and maybe add a few more in the fall.
Hubby is going to start my beds today!! :watering

 

[Madfarner]

One thing strawberries ARE fussy about is planting depth. You want all the roots in the soil, with the crown just on the surface. Almost any mailorder nursury should have a picture/diagram on their website.

Madfarmer

 

[Patch of Heaven Farm]

The only thing I can't find info on is how big each bed should be. I was thinking of having 2-4 beds with either 125 to 250 in each one. Can anyone recommend a measurment for a bed? and how deep it needs to be? Thanks for any and all help!!! Also the variety I should plant or if I should plant more than one kind?

:mow

thanks, jessica

I live in zone 8 in southern Ms