Growing Strawberries In Raised Beds – Here’s Why And How To Do It

Who doesn’t love strawberries fresh from the garden, warm from the summer sun? All home-grown strawberries are delicious, but growing strawberries in raised beds can make the gardening work easier. Planting strawberries in raised beds does involve a little more work upfront in preparing the raised beds. However, the happy tradeoff is that you’ll have to put in lots less effort later on.

So if you want to grow strawberry plants in a healthy and productive way, here are the most effective planting and cultivation practices for the ultimate June bearing, everbearing and day-neutral fruits.

Benefits of Growing Strawberries in Raised Beds

The boogie man for home-grown strawberries is poor drainage. Strawberries require excellent drainage and will not tolerate wet soil. Poor drainage leads to waterlogged soil, which can mean roots face a swift and ugly death. Growing strawberry containers or strawberry hanging baskets is one way round the problem – but there is another way. Growing strawberries in a raised bed filled with well-draining soil guarantees improved drainage. By raising the height of the soil, you increase the distance between the soil surface and the soil water table.

In addition, when growing strawberries in a raised bed garden, the height of the soil makes it easier to work the soil and take care of the plants. A gardener doesn’t have to bend all the way down to pull weeds when the soil is mounded in a raised bed. If you do a good job constructing the raised beds, you will be able to sit on a short garden stool to weed, rather than squatting down.

Best Raised Beds for Strawberries

The best raised beds for strawberries are built with wooden frames and filled with organically rich, well-draining soil with any needed amendments added. Adding organic matter improves drainage, allows air into the soil and assists the soil to retain nutrients. You can fill a raised bed using a mix of wood chips, chopped tree bark, sawdust, composted manures or plant-based composts. The mixing should be done before planting.

If constructing frames for the raised strawberry beds seems out of reach in terms of effort, it is also possible to make raised beds without frames. You can do this by building mounds of soil and organic compost material. While the soil works just as well as soil in frames, rain and wind can cause the hill of soil to deteriorate. This makes frames the best raised bed option for strawberries.

Planting Strawberries in Raised Beds

When you are growing strawberries in a raised bed garden, start as early as possible in springtime. If you can work the soil, it’s time to plant. One of the keys to growing bigger strawberries is to make sure you allow as much time as possible for the plant networks to develop and the fruits to ripen.

How deep to plant starts depends on which kind you buy. If you get bare-root plants, the hole should be sufficiently large that the roots can fit in without bending. Plant so the crown midpoint is at the level of the soil surface. Make sure the uppermost root is covered with soil so that even a hard rain will not expose it to the open air.

If you purchase container plants, they must be planted at the same depth in the raised bed soil that they were in the container medium. When the strawberry plants are inserted too deep, the tip from which the plant grows may rot. Tuck the soil around the medium of the container plant to avoid pockets of air in the soil.

In either case, water well after initial planting. Check the plant to see if the depth is still correct when the soil is settled.

Best Systems of Planting Strawberries

The two commonly used systems of planting strawberries are called the matted row system and the annual system. The former is a perennial system in which plants are allowed to send out strawberry runners and create a dense, wide row of plants. After the spring harvest period, narrow the row and allow new runners to continue the cycle. This requires year round watering, weeding and keeping out pests.

The annual system is best for warmer climates. Set plants about a foot (30cm) apart in the fall, staggering the plants in two or three rows. Take the harvest in February through May, then shovel under the entire crop and plant something else in summer.

Caring for Strawberries in Raised Beds

The maintenance raised bed strawberries require depends on the type of strawberries you select. There are three primary types of strawberries: June-bearers, everbearing, day neutral.

• June-Bearing Strawberries: With June-bearing strawberries, you get one crop annually in or near June, with a month of fruiting. Plants produce runners, traveling stems that root and create new plants. Because of this, they need more room to roam, so space them well apart. Alternatively, snip off runners as they appear.
• Everbearing Strawberries: Everbearing berries (also known as remontant or perpetual strawberries) also give a decent crop in June, but tend to produce smaller fruits in flushes from late spring to early fall.
• Day-Neutral Strawberries: Day-neutrals produce fruit throughout the season. Both everbearers and day-neutrals fruit the planting year. But when they first produce a flower stem, remove it to encourage the plants to establish a root system and grow a crown and leaves before blossoming.

You’ll need to water the new transplants frequently, twice a day initially, then tapering off to twice a week. The idea is to keep the soil moist but never wet. Every few weeks, offer small doses of a liquid fertilizer.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Tasty Berry Projects to Try

• Want to grow strawberries in a mess-free zone? Find out how to grow hydroponic strawberries for a cleaner way to cultivate juicy berry harvests.
• Would you like to grow sustainable fruiting shrubs? These native berry bushes are lovely, low maintenance and full of tasty fruit potential.
• If we have whetted your appetite for cultivating berries, don’t stop at strawbs! Browse blueberries, walnuts and edibles in the Gardening Know How Shop.

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