The rundown on strawberries

Strawberries Are In At Laurel Bay Gardens!!!

There are basically 3 types of strawberry plants to choose from: June bearing, Everbearing and Day Neutral.

June Bearing strawberries produce a single, large crop per year during a 2 – 3 week period in the spring. June bearers are the traditionally grown plants, producing a single flush of flowers and many runners. They are classified into early, mid-season and late varieties. The largest fruits are generally from June bearing varieties.

Everbearing strawberries produce two to three harvests of fruit intermittently during the spring, summer and fall. Everbearing plants do not send out many runners.

Day Neutral strawberries will produce fruit throughout the growing season. These strawberries also produce few runners. Everbearing and day neutral strawberries are great when space is limited, but the fruits are usually somewhat smaller than June bearers.
Plant strawberries in full sun. They prefer well drained, sandy loam with a pH from 5.8 to 6.2.

Plant in the spring as soon as the soil is dry enough to be worked, or in late fall. Select plants with large crowns with healthy, light-colored roots. Amend soil with 1-2 inches of organic matter like compost or well- rotted manure.Keep weeds from competing with your strawberry plants.

Make a hole large enough to spread the roots. Hill the center of the hole and place the crown at soil level. Spread the roots downward on the hill. Bury the plant so that the soil only goes halfway up the crown.

Bare Root Varieties On Sale Now At The Nursery:

Seascape Strawberry
Seascape strawberry plants yield large, juicy, well-shaped berries with superb flavor, and they bear fruit over a long season. It’s one of the most productive and disease-resistant everbearing varieties yet! Shallow roots make them ideal for growing in containers as well as in the garden.

Tristar Strawberry
These strawberries are hardy, with medium-sized, deep red fruit and a glossy, attractive shape. TriStar blooms in mid-summer the first year, followed by a heavy early spring crop in the second year. Tristar strawberries are a “day neutral” variety – they can produce berries from June through October. Developed at the University of Maryland and proven to perform well across the country. The are recommended for freezing. Tolerant to leaf blight and resistant to verticillium.

Quinalt Strawberry
Here is a great tasting, heavy bearing, everbearing strawberry developed by Washington State University. It is well on its way to being the greatest performer ever. Quinault Strawberries have an excellent performance record for size, taste and plant growth and is one of the most disease free everbearing variety tested.