How to Grow Strawberry

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.

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.

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

Growing Notes

Perennial; planted from crowns or runners.

Sources

• Johnny's Selected Seeds
• NC State Extension