Strawberry plugs

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Fall-planted strawberries will produce this spring, whereas spring-planted strawberries won’t produce until the following year. Strawberry plants generally overwinter well in our climate, if given some protection (row cover or straw mulch) during cold weather.

In the past, I’ve hesitated to grow strawberries because they give one crop in late spring, and then need to be watered all summer-long even though they won’t produce again until the following year. I’m not a fan of watering any more than necessary during the summer, and strawberries just didn’t seem worth it to me. BUT. Store-bought strawberries can’t hold a candle to the taste of home-grown berries, and I miss the exquisite flavor of a real strawberry.

The solution? An annual planting system. Plant in the fall, cover during winter, harvest a high-yielding crop in late spring, then pull and compost the plants. This may seem wasteful, and you can absolutely keep the plants going for a perennial strawberry bed if you prefer. But it meets my need for a big spring crop of berries without year-round care.

I purchased these plugs from Farm on Central, which has excellent planting instructions available online. I highly recommend that you read their information before planting. Ruby June and Camino Real varieties available, limited quantity, $2 per plug or 2 plugs for $3.

Note: I also have Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) plants for sale. Not to be confused with the cultivated varieties above!! Wild strawberries make an excellent, drought-tolerant, native groundcover. They also produce tiny, very tasty berries, but you’re unlikely to get any as all the little creatures love these berries, too.