We recently purchased and planted our strawberries. We were really excited about this because of the newer varieties that we have learned about. Over the years many new varieties have come out and many more will continue to come out. California is the major producer, so if you are trying to find a good variety, find out what they are growing.

We have learned that for Junebearing strawberries, Chandler or Ventana is the best in terms of size, flavor, yield, etc. As for everbearing/day-neutral strawberries, we have learned that Diamonte is the best, however, recently a newer better berry which surpasses the Diamonte has come out. It is called Albion. So this year we planted both Albion and Ventana. Of course, alot of this is subjective, but it is a good place to start anyway.

There are many things to know about strawberries and so I would refer you to the strawberry fact sheet for many of the specifics.

As for our garden, we use the black plastic method in a row. This means that the strawberries can’t put out their runners to create new strawberry plants. We pinch the runners off and do the initial planting 12″ apart which is pretty close together since we don’t let them runner. The reason for this is that we feel that the plants, at around $.25 a piece are cheap and we want to enjoy them as soon as possible so we don’t let them put their energy into creating new plants, instead we make them put it into the fruit. Another benefit of the black plastic is water conservation, since the berries like the moisture, and the fruit doesn’t tend to rot when touching the ground.

Also, remember that strawberries like a lower pH than most vegetable, therefore, I add extra sulfur when I fertilize to accomplish this. See post on this.

While strawberries do the best in California, the still do well in Utah. One problem we frequently have is iron chlorosis, so you will need to watch for this.

You can see this problem in the leaves noted be green veins with a yellow leaf.

This is due to improper fertilization or irrigation. If you have this problem read here.

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