Planting Strawberry
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.
Transplant young plants outdoors 0–2 weeks before your last frost — Strawberry tolerates cool conditions and benefits from an early start.
Spacing and Planting Depth
Give Strawberry room to mature. The figures below come from verified extension and seed-supplier data for typical varieties.
| Spacing in row | 12 inches |
|---|---|
| Row spacing | 24 inches |
| Plants per sq ft | 0.5 |
| Planting depth | 0 inches |
| Sun requirement | Full sun |
Plan a square-foot bed with Strawberry →
Calculate plants in a bed for Strawberry →
Days to Maturity
Strawberry reaches maturity in 90–120 days from sowing.
Strawberry is ready to harvest after about 105 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, 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.
Strawberry needs full sun — give it at least six hours of direct light a day for the best growth and flavor. Sow seed about 0 inches deep — small seed is sown shallow and barely covered, then keep the soil evenly moist until seedlings establish.
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. Strawberry is generally grown as a single planting each season rather than succession sown.
See Strawberry in the full planting calendar for your ZIP →
Plan crop rotation for Rosaceae →
Companion Plants
Pairing 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
Keep away from: Cabbage, Kale, Broccoli
Check Strawberry with other crops in your garden →
Growing Notes
Perennial; planted from crowns or runners.
Related Crops
Other crops you might grow alongside or instead of Strawberry.
In the same family
Strawberry is in the Rosaceae family. Other Rosaceae crops in the Gardenable database:
Documented companions
These crops are listed as good growing partners for Strawberry:
Similar growing requirements
Crops with similar season and time to maturity — useful if you want a diverse garden on a similar schedule: