Strawberries on a hill?

[Grade3teacher]

Hi!

I live in CT and I want to plant strawberries. I have a small incline in our back yard. Can I plant strawberries on an incline or do I have to dig into the hill to create a flat raised bed?

What size plot is generally needed for a decent crop?

I'm planning on using the tristar variety so I'll have fruit throughout the season rather than one large crop.

Stefanie

[Jennify]

The more the merrier! :) I guess it depends on what size of crop you want. If you're big into canning or jellies then have lots and lots and LOTS of plants.
If you're more looking at making a couple of pies or just enjoying them off the plants maybe only 7 or 8 would be good.

[MaryG]

I don't see why they wouldn't work on a hill. I've seen strawberries grown in hanging baskets and they did just fine.

[MrSeedy]

There's only one thing to keep in mind , when growing anything on a slope or hill and in some cases, where local soil is heavy clay, the slope on a hill can be a big advantage to avoiding overly wet soil , since those hills and slopes tend to drain quickly. The down side though, if there's too fast a runoff with steeper hills and heavy soils , is that they can be a challenge to water in dry periods, and may require long gentle waterings with a sprinkler or or leaky hose to get them wet enough to keep plants alive and healthy.

If you want just enough fruit for some fresh strawberries thoughout the growing season, a few dozen plants may provide enough berries, but since the crop on "day neutral" berries, such as tristar is spread out over the entire season, and perhaps heaviest only early in the year, if you wish for any surplus for canning and freezing. you may wish to go to lots of June bearing varieties , which produce larger berries and heavier crops, only just one a year , and then you'd have no fresh fruit for the rest of the season. I planted an old fashioned seed grown strain of "everbearing" plants years ago and it wasn't til I'd allowed the plants to multiply and form fairly good sized rows, that I got very big crops however. I'd have to look up the average yeild for healthy plants to estimate the number needed , when first planted, and I can't remember that!

[Grade3teacher]

Thanks for the responses! I'm interested in having fresh fruit to eat throughout the season; not so much into canning or jams quite yet! I'm going to give the growing on the hill thing a shot. Of course, I can't find any plants around here! Does anyone have a good online source I could order from?

Also, what do I need to do to prepare the soil for planting? I read some posts about planting in rows so I will take that advice but what else do I need to consider as I ready myself to plant? I will need to use the rottitiller to dig up the side of the hill seeing as it's just a grassy spot right now. I think I saw someone post I should plant them about 1 foot deep? What kind of soil should I pick up to enrich what I have? The soil here seems to be rich based on the other areas of my yard that I've dug up. I have used compost soil from our recycle center each year to enrich the soils of my vegetable garden and flower gardens.

Thanks for helping me out! My 5 year old is so excited to begin this project! She has a green thumb like her grandma; I on the other hand have a black one. :grin:

[MrSeedy]

There's no such thing as a recommended planting depth for all strawberry plants , since it depends on planting them with the crowns not completelly burried , but perhaps half way up the crowns leaving the upper part above soil level, and that of course means that it depends on the length of the roots and the size of the crowns to decide how deep the holes should be. In gereral , you dig a hole about the right depth to cover the spread out roots which sometimes are placed around a somewhat mound shapped hill in the center of each hole and adjust the height so the crowns are only half burried. Those young plants will vary a great deal in size depending on which varieties you choose and other factors, and for the simplest planting some folks just dig a trough straight down and spread the roots in a fan and then fill in the trough, with again the crowns the right depth. As for spacing , it depends on varieties as well, with the very large June bearing ones needing more space, and the smaller everbearers or day neutral varieties being much closer together, You don't want to overcrowd , but depending how fast you want new runners to fill in the gaps, or how long you wish to go before replanting to avoid overcrowding, you can plant them quite closely together if you have limitied space and wish for a bigger crop in the first year or second. In general , advice used to say to remove flowers and runners for the June bearers the entire first year, so the plants would put all their energy into forming good roots and growth for a good crop in the second year, but the other types may be picked the first year without worrying aoout a long period to get established. I have planted first year, and very young everbearers only a few inches apart, becuase of space considerations, with my somewhat limited space, but allowing at least six inches between plants for air circulation in smaller plants would maybe be minimal amounts, and more might be recommended. You can begin to have lots of fungus and mold problems which strawberry plants are pone to, if those plants get too crowded and don't allow good air circulation. Having said all this, I'm sure many other folks might offer different advice, and I only know what worked for me though I've not planted strawberry plants for a number of years.

[MaryG]

Speaking of strawberries - I finally got out there and weeded my strawberry bed yesterday. It was a good sunny day and time for some yardwork. The weeds were just taking over the bed and you couldn't even see the berry plants. After weeding I was pleased to see how many of the plants looked strong and healthy with very few bare spots. I found some berry plants growing in the old strawberry bed and transplanted them to the bare spots. Bring on the berries!