Planting Alpine Strawberry
Alpine Strawberry is a cool season fruit in the Rosaceae family. Getting the timing right is the difference between a strong stand and a disappointing one, so the windows below are given relative to your own last spring frost and first fall frost rather than a generic calendar date. Look up your local frost dates and count back or forward from there.
Alpine Strawberry is started indoors 10–12 weeks before your last spring frost date, giving seedlings a head start before they move outside.
Transplant young plants outdoors 0–2 weeks before your last frost — Alpine Strawberry tolerates cool conditions and benefits from an early start.
Alpine Strawberry can be grown by starting indoors and transplanting. Starting indoors gives the longest, most controlled season, while direct sowing is simplest where the season is long enough.
Spacing and Planting Depth
Give Alpine Strawberry room to mature. The figures below come from verified extension and seed-supplier data for typical varieties.
| Spacing in row | 10 inches |
|---|---|
| Row spacing | 18 inches |
| Plants per sq ft | 0.8 |
| Planting depth | 0 inches |
| Sun requirement | Partial sun |
Days to Maturity
Alpine Strawberry reaches maturity in 120–150 days from transplant.
Alpine Strawberry is ready to harvest after about 135 days. Harvest before summer heat or, for fall crops, before a hard freeze, to keep quality high.
Conditions and Care
As a cool-season fruit, Alpine Strawberry does its best growing in the cooler weather of spring and fall and tends to bolt or turn bitter in summer heat. It is frost hardy and can shrug off light freezes, so it can stay in the ground later into the season than tender crops.
Alpine Strawberry grows well in partial sun and tolerates some afternoon shade, which can help slow bolting in warm weather. Sow seed about 0 inches deep — small seed is sown shallow and barely covered, then keep the soil evenly moist until seedlings establish.
Alpine Strawberry belongs to the Rosaceae family; rotating where you grow members of this family each year helps limit the build-up of soil-borne pests and disease. Alpine Strawberry is generally grown as a single planting each season rather than succession sown.
Companion Plants
Pairing Alpine Strawberry with the right neighbors can improve growth and deter pests; a few combinations are best avoided.
Grows well with: Lettuce (Loose-leaf), Spinach, Borage
Growing Notes
Everbearing runnerless strawberry; can be grown from seed.