How to plant strawberries in spring
To get a good harvest of strawberries, it is important to correctly approach the issue of planting it. It is best to plant strawberries in spring (March), when the soil is saturated with moisture after winter precipitation. When planting in autumn, quite often the weather conditions make their own adjustments. After the summer drought and lack of rainfall in the fall, strawberries planted in dry land simply have no chance of surviving.
How to plant strawberries in spring? First of all, she needs to take a place in the garden with fertile soil.
Selection and preparation of beds for planting
Strawberries grow well and bear fruit abundantly in the sunlit beds on the southwest side of the plot. An area with a slight slope is also suitable. The best precursors for sweet berries are legumes, garlic, onions, and root vegetables.
It is possible to plant strawberries where they grew earlier only after 3 years.
Make holes, and mix the earth from them (per 1 bucket) with compost and manure (one bucket each), add 1 glass of ash. From this substrate, form mounds in the holes, on which strawberries will be planted.
Selection and preparation of strawberry seedlings
For planting strawberries choose well-developed seedlings. Leave 4 leaves on each, cut off the rest. Cut roots longer than 10 cm.
An hour before planting, the seedlings are recommended to be soaked in a growth stimulant solution or just water well. Before planting in the ground, each seedling can be rolled in a clay mash to prevent the root system from drying out and improve survival.
Planting methods for strawberries
When choosing a method of planting strawberries, you should consider the possibility of carrying out constant care for it. Experienced gardeners plant strawberries in the following ways:
- Carpet. The easiest planting method, in which the strawberry mustache is not cut off and it further multiplies in random order. Suitable for those who do not have the opportunity to often visit their summer cottage. Such dense plantings do not require constant maintenance: moisture lasts longer, fallen leaves create natural mulch, and weeds do not grow so vigorously. The only disadvantage of this method is that the berries become small over time.
- Separate bushes. The seedlings are planted in the holes one at a time, observing a distance of 50 cm. The mustache is regularly removed, preventing the intertwining of the bushes. The method requires constant care, but the berries are large, and strawberries are less likely to get sick.
- Into the ranks. For planting, make beds with row spacing of 40 cm. Strawberries are placed on the beds at a distance of 15 cm from each other. The method is also quite laborious, however, strawberries in rows can grow up to 5 years without transplanting.
- Nests. From the seedlings, they form a shape like a hexagon: one hole in the center, the rest around it (10 cm from each other). The nests are placed in a row, observing 30 cm between them, the row spacing is 40 cm, as when planting in rows. The method will provide a bountiful harvest, but costly, since it requires a large amount of planting material.