Strawberries the Edible Groundcover

We have strawberry plants in the early spring for sale 

It’s a native plant, healthy and delicious but did you know that strawberry plants make a great groundcover? If you are thinking about a sustainable landscape or an edible landscape, you might want to replace some of your lawn with strawberry plants.  Strawberry plants multiply quickly by sending out 6-8 runners that produce new plants the first year.

Strawberries need full sun but a little afternoon shade will be fine. The next consideration is the soil. While they can be grown in most garden soils, strawberries prefer a sandy loam that is deep and contains very high amounts of organic matter. Extra compost and peat can be added to your selected site to create the best environment for growing strawberries. After planting, the soil must not dry out completely nor can it be water logged.  Strawberry plants prefer the soil moisture to be just right.

Planting the right cultivar for your needs

There are 3 different types of Strawberries, Day-neutral, Short-day (June bearer) and Everbearing strawberry varieties.

Day-neutral strawberry plants produce flowers buds no matter the day length, beginning three months after planting.  They will keep producing flowers and fruit if temperatures do not become too high.  Cultivars to look for are Tribute, Tristar,Seascape and Evie2.

Formally known as June bearing, Short-day strawberry plants begin flowering when the day length is 14 hours or less or when temperatures are less than 60^oF. These plants are used when you want a big crop all at once like when you are making jam. Cultivars to try are Allstar, Chandler, Earliglow, and Sparkle.

Everbearing strawberry varieties aren’t really “everbearing.” They generally produce two harvests per year: one in the spring and another in the late summer or fall. Under ideal conditions, it is possible for some everbearing strawberry varieties to produce three berry harvests. Quinault is a very productive cultivar but Ozark Beauty is probably the best everbearing strawberry variety for the south. Mother plants produce runners and fruit well, but runner plants usually will not produce any strawberries during their first year but Quinalt will make berries on the runners the first year.

Strawberries have lovely little 5 petal white flowers but some cultivars have pink flowers. Pink Panda has bright pink flowers and does well in the south. The Day-neutral cultivars will have fruit and flowers at the same time making them both ornamental and edible at the same time.

For more information about strawberries check out the website www.strawberryplants.org.

Kathy Woolsey