How To Grow Strawberries

Strawberry 'Honeoye' (Early Season) is well suited to grow in containers
Image: Photos Horticultural

Grow delicious strawberries from bare roots, potted plants, or seed and avoid the expense and plastic packaging that comes with shop-bought fruit. Easy to grow and very versatile, you need very little space to enjoy your own homegrown berries. They’re even happy in hanging baskets. Here’s everything you need to know to get bumper harvests from your strawberry plants.

Which strawberry should I grow?

Strawberry 'Florence' produces delicious sweet strawberries from June until the end of July
Image: Strawberry 'Florence' (Late Season) from Thompson & Morgan

There are three main types of strawberry to choose from: alpine (wild strawberries), summer-fruiting, or perpetual-fruiting strawberry varieties. 

• Alpine strawberries like 'Mignonette' produce lots of very small and sweet berries from July through to September.
• Summer-fruiting strawberries like 'Sweetheart' produce a heavy flush of larger fruits in early and mid-summer.
• Perpetual-fruiting strawberries (or ever-bearing varieties) like 'Mara Des Bois', 'Flamenco', and Anais are a great choice if you don’t have much space because they produce fruit in flushes from early summer right through to early autumn.

If you have plenty of growing space, planting rows of early, mid, and late season strawberries maximises your harvest, keeping your fridge stocked all summer long. Take a look at our 'Full Season Collection' for inspiration.

Where to plant strawberries

Strawberries favour a sunny, sheltered position in fertile, free-draining soil. To give your plants the best start, make sure you work lots of organic matter like compost or well-rotted manure into the soil before planting. If your garden suffers from lack of sunlight, you can still grow strawberries. Summer and perpetual fruiting varieties won’t produce such a big crop, but they will grow in semi-shade. If in doubt, sow alpine varieties which actually prefer a slightly shadier location.

How to plant strawberries

Strawberry plants are supplied as bare roots or potted plants
Image: Strawberry 'Cambridge Favourite' (Mid Season) from Thompson & Morgan

Plant your strawberries during the spring or autumn. For ease of access and optimum cropping, it’s best to give your strawberries plenty of space. If you’re putting strawberries straight into the ground, use a trowel to dig a hole big enough to accommodate the roots of each plant, and space them 45cm (18") apart, leaving 75cm (30") between rows.

Take care when planting strawberries. If you plant them too deep, they might rot, but if you leave the crown protruding from the soil, the plant will dry out and die. Always spread the roots out in the hole and make sure the crown is level with the surrounding soil. Firm your plants in well and water thoroughly.

How to grow strawberries in hanging baskets and containers

'Gasana' is a pink bloomed ornamental strawberry that looks beautiful and tastes delicious
Image: Strawberry 'Gasana' from Thompson & Morgan

Strawberries are well-suited to hanging baskets, patio containers, and strawberry planters, and are ideal for those with limited space. Growing your strawberries like this also keeps them safely away from slugs, snails, and small animals which enjoy the fruits as much as we do.

For a 12" hanging basket it's best to limit yourself to three or four strawberry plants so they’ll each have enough light, water and nutrients to thrive. Do incorporate water-retaining granules and slow-release fertiliser into the compost before planting.

Always remember to check the compost daily in hot weather – water if the top half-inch of compost feels dry. For more information on creating your own hanging baskets, check out our article on how to plant up hanging baskets.

How to feed, water and harvest strawberry plants

As large as a standard tomato, 'Sweet Colossus' is sweet and flavoursome
Image: Strawberry 'Sweet Colossus' from Thompson & Morgan

For bumper crops of juicy strawberries, you need well-manured soil. If your soil is particularly poor, then work in some slow-release fertiliser in the spring. Then it’s all about watering, tending your plants and keeping hungry pests at bay:

• Water frequently while new plants get established and also during dry periods.
• If growing strawberries in pots or hanging baskets, feed them with a balanced fertiliser every two weeks during the growing season. When flowering begins, switch to a high-potash liquid fertiliser to encourage fruiting.
• As the fruits develop, place dry straw or mulching fabric underneath to stop soil splash blemishing the fruit.
• It's also worth netting your strawberries before they turn red to protect them from hungry birds. If you’re growing strawberries in rows, a net tunnel is easy to install. It might also be worth investing in a fruit cage, especially if you’re also growing currants.
• Some varieties of strawberry produce runners - stems with young strawberry plants along the length. Remove these as they appear so that the plant’s energy goes towards flowering and fruiting.

Strawberry aftercare

Protect your soft fruit with mesh
Image: Melih Evren/Shutterstock

After cropping, remove any straw and netting to allow better air flow around the crown of the plant. As the summer progresses, keep on top of weeding and continue to remove any runners. Clear away dead foliage as this can harbour pests and diseases over winter. Each spring spread a general purpose fertiliser around your plants along with a mulch of well-rotted manure or compost.

How to rotate your strawberry crops

It’s best to replace strawberry plants after the third season because otherwise they lose vigour, making harvests smaller and the plants more susceptible to pests and diseases. If space allows, also move your strawberry beds to a different part of the garden to stop pests and diseases accumulating in the soil.

How to grow strawberries from seed

Fruiting from runners as well as the main plant, 'Florian' is ideal for hanging baskets
Image: Strawberry 'Florian' F1 Hybrid (Everbearer/ All season) from Thompson & Morgan

Growing strawberries from seed takes a little bit of patience because they take up to a month to germinate and will usually crop the following year. Nevertheless, this is a good way to grow more unusual varieties that aren't available as plants. A particular favourite, 'Florian', has pink flowers and produces fruit both on the parent plant and the runners, making it ideal for hanging baskets.

How to grow strawberries indoors

Growing strawberries in a greenhouse or conservatory means they’ll fruit up to a month earlier than outdoor plants.

• If you don't have a greenhouse or polytunnel, placing a cloche over your outdoor strawberry plants in February can advance ripening by up to three weeks.
• If you're growing strawberries indoors, it's best to plant each strawberry plant into a 15cm (6") pot of general multipurpose compost.
• Leave your strawberry plants outside during the autumn and winter because they require a chill period to initiate flowering the next summer.
• From February you can bring the plants back indoors to a bright position, and water as needed. At this stage, take care not to let the temperature rise above 16C because this inhibits flowering.

Do remember to pollinate indoor strawberries. To do this, lightly brush a soft paint brush around the central yellow part of each of the flowers. Also remember to feed your plants with a balanced fertiliser every two weeks until flowering begins, at which point you should switch to a high-potash liquid fertiliser for the best fruiting.

That’s how to grow a scrumptious harvest of summer strawberries. All you need to do now is add a dollop of cream and reach for a glass of Pimm’s. Visit our comprehensive hub page for more info and expert advice on growing strawberries. Or try our fruit hub page which is filled with advice on growing other delicious berries and exotic fruits too. 

Watch: 'How to plant strawberries'  video with Thompson & Morgan