5 Tips for Planting Strawberries

Last Updated on June 20, 2024 by Michelle

“Promise.” That’s what she called the withered looking strawberry plant as she gingerly opened its brittle roots and fanned them across the luscious topsoil she had lovingly prepared for it.

She saw past its dry, ugly roots and joyfully focused on the minuscule, tender shoot that represented so much hope to her. She knew it was a shoot longing to prosper in the warm sun, rich dark soil, and refreshing water she was going to provide for it.

Yeah, I’m kinda like that dead-looking plant.

How broken and ugly we must somedays appear.

But God knows the promise we hold.

He knows in our feeble, unpromising state we can prosper because we are the work of HIS hands.

He knows we can thrive, despite our own shortcomings, because HE has planted us.

He knows the “promise” we hold that will, in the end, bring him glory.

 

We all hold promise, even on the fragile days.

I’ll keep you posted on the strawberry patch; we’ll see if these withered roots can produce ripe berries. (UPDATE: While the plants thrived the following year, see below for the 5-years-later update.)

But in the meantime, I’m thankful God has planted me so lovingly in a new home that gives such joy and thankful for a daughter who reminded me, while planting our garden together, that even on my most fragile days I do hold great promise.

Because God says I am “the branch of his planting, the work of his hands, that He might be glorified.” (Isaiah 60:21)

 

Five tips for planting strawberries.

1.  Take heart if your baby plants look less-than desirable. It amazed us how dead and lifeless ours looked yet within just a week in the ground showed tiny new growth and promise. (You do have to look hard still for it, but it’s there.)

2.  Plant the rows far enough apart that you will be able to walk between them without squashing the juicy berries on the mature plants. We placed the rows about 3 feet apart.

3.  Prepare your soil with rich compost.

4.  Fan the tiny plant’s roots out, to cover the little mound you’ve prepared for them. Do be very gentle though, they are as brittle as they look. But there is life in the tiny hair roots, so be sure to not tear them.

5.  Keep the weeds under control as your baby strawberry plants grow by spreading lawn clippings between the rows.

 

Update: 5 years later.

Sadly, when I wrote this post 5 years ago I envisioned a giant strawberry patch by now that I would show off today. A patch that would provide dozens of jars of jam and a handful of strawberry pies as well every June. (Here’s my Great Aunt’s amazing Strawberry Pie Recipe.)

We lost some strawberry plants to inquisitive deer that first summer, before we learned these tips to keep deer out of the gardens.

Then we brought home a family cow, which by the way led to the best day ever on our homestead and a sweet heifer named Selah (this post explains Selah’s name) so we had to relocate our entire garden, which was planted in the ideal location for a cow pasture. Then we redesigned our garden plan and, for a third year in a row, yet again moved our strawberry patch.

Sadly, we then had a barn fire which was, of course, the worst day ever on our homestead and left us with only one gated area to corral the cows safely until we could find them a new home while we try to rebuild. That gated area? You guessed it. Our strawberry patch, which was finally thriving and large enough to provide us with a nice crop this summer. So this year, I won’t have any strawberries. Scout and Selah put an end to that idea.

But it sure is fun going strawberry picking on a nearby farm anyway.

 

Other posts you might like:

The Secret to Deliciously Amazing Strawberry Pie

3 Amazing Things to Make with Strawberries

 

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And have you tried my a-MAAHZ-ing Maple Sugar Cookie recipe that’s in my Resource Library? You won’t find this deliciousness anywhere else… until Sweet Maple is in print this fall.