How to Garden Strawberries: a tutorial

How to garden strawberries is not a hard task although it does take planning as typically they will not produce many berries, if any, the first year. Therefore, start your strawberry garden now.

“Not only are strawberries juicy and delicious, they also may lower blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a signal of inflammation in the body. High CRP levels are associated with an increased risk of heart disease and stroke, and levels often spike when people with rheumatoid arthritis or lupus have a flare, as well,” according to arthritistoday.org

In a how to garden strawberries: a tutorial, the first place to start is deciding what variety of strawberries you want to plant in the strawberry bed. Do you want a Junebearer strawberry or an Everbearer strawberry? A June bearing strawberry is a variety that produces for a couple of weeks a year and then they are done. An Everbearer strawberry is what it says, starts producing as the Junebearer, however, they continue to produce berries and the size start out large and then have a steady crop until fall. The weather on both berries plays a big part of the sweetness and or the crop yield.

Stark Bros featured product, Eversweet™ Strawberry, according to Starkbros.com, “Perfect for patio gardens. You'll enjoy sweet treats from this everbearer the very first summer. And it keeps on producing, even when temperatures exceed 80ºF--and you can keep picking into the fall. Fruit is long, cone-shaped. Pkg. of 25 plants, $11.99 - Pkg 25”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Junebearer Varieties

• Wendy-Zones 3-8
• Earliglow-Zones 4-8
• Annapolis-Zones 3-8
• Cavendish-Zones 3-8
• Honeoye-Zones 3-8
• Jewel-Zones 4-8
• Sparkle-Zones 3-8
• Cabot-Zones 4-8

Everbearer Varieties

• Seascape-Zones 4-8
• Ozark Beauty-Zones 3-8
• Ogallala-Zones 3-8
• Fort Laramie-Zones 3-7
• Tristar-Zones 4-8

Unlike Junebearers, Everbearer strawberries, with new plants set out it is required that you plant them 12-inches-15-inches apart, snip off all blossom clusters and cut off all runners as they form.

Depending on what the uses of the strawberries you are planting in your strawberry garden, in this how to garden strawberries: a tutorial it would be irresponsible not to mention that you need to do your homework for your region, and purpose of the strawberries. Some strawberries are for commercial use, others for jam or jellies, fresh eating freezing or canning.

Junebearer Strawberries in April

 

Strawberry blossom

Do you like fresh grown strawberries when they come in season? Do you like the health benefits from eating them? Would you like to save money while eating though fresh grown healthy strawberries?

A cluster of blossoms

Oh my goodness, strawberries are an easy crop to grow in the vegetable garden. Who says the garden is only for vegetables? It is about feeding your family nutritious food and saving money. Strawberries are low in calorie and high in vitamin C.

A couple of blossoms

If you are looking for information on growing strawberries, look on Seekyt, where you can read my how to garden strawberries: a tutorial. I have Junebearer strawberries in my organic vegetable garden; however, I am definitely considering a raised bed of everbearers. It would give me fresh berries and easier on my back as well and the Junebearers would continue to be used as juice and freeze for smoothies.

A portion of my patch

This year in Indiana, the weather in March was extremely warm forcing the flowers and the strawberries to bloom faster than normal.  We in April have still had chilly nights and light frost so I am hoping my Junebearers that are blossoming in April, make it.

To read more: How to Garden Strawberries: a tutorial

 

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Growing Strawberries: Grow and Pick Strawberries

Strawberry season will soon be upon us, and not only do they taste great they are so good for you.

According to world's healthiest foods, "Many foods commonly consumed in the U.S. are valuable sources of antioxidants, however, researchers have recently ranked the 50 best antioxidant sources among commonly eaten foods and found strawberries to be quite exceptional. When total antioxidant capacity was measured against a uniform amount of food (100 grams, or about 3.5 ounces), strawberries ranked 27th best among U.S. foods. In addition, when only fruits were considered, strawberries came out 4th among all fruits (behind blackberries, cranberries, and raspberries)"  

Strawberries are an easy plant to grow. They pretty much take care of themselves. You will have to pull the weeds from your strawberries to keep your patch clean and easy to pick. Having organic strawberries are even better, no pesticides concerns.
The real problem is you have to wait a year after you plant for a good crop. Therefore, if you haven't planted yours put them in the ground now so you can have juicy organic strawberries next summer.

Supplies need to grow and pick strawberries:

• Strawberry plants
• Straw/grass clippings for mulch
• Rototiller
• Cardboard boxes/quart containers
• A strong healthy back

Steps to grow and pick strawberries:

1.     Using a Rototiller, clean up the land you are going to use for the strawberry patch.  Doing it right from the beginning is essential.

2.    Go to your local greenhouse’s or nurseries, shop by catalog and find the variety of strawberries that will suit your needs and the land you have to grow them in. Strawberries are not all the same. Some are for eating, some for jams or pies. Some even come in hanging baskets for smaller places. If you know how you want to use the strawberries before buying the plants would be very helpful.

3.     After you have purchased your strawberry plants and tilled the ground, plant the strawberry plants. Put straw or grass clippings around the edges and plants to keep the weeds down and moisture in.

4.     As your strawberry plants mature, they will get little white flowers on them that will turn into strawberries. To some this may seem obvious, but there are people out there that have never seen a strawberry farm or plant.

5.     With the right temperatures and sunshine, your strawberries will be ripe the first weeks of June. That is when you will need all those quart containers or cardboard boxes.

6.     Every year your strawberry plants produce runners and your patch will grow rapidly, as you are picking you will need to move the strawberry plants from side to side to see the whole plant. The strawberries will not jump out and say pick me, you will have to look for them.

Tip: When strawberries start to come on, they will ripen quickly and on a daily basis, so check them often. Growing and picking organic strawberries will be great for the whole family.

How to Make a NO-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake

If you love cheesecake of all kinds Then you will love this recipe for no-bake strawberry cheesecake. This would be great for a birthday cake, Easter, Mother's or Father’s Day, Memorial Day, the 4th of July or any meal you simply want to please your family.
My sister's favorite cheesecake is the jell-o cheesecake our mom made and requested it for her birthdays. Growing organic strawberries, the combination just sounded great to me. I used low-fat cottage cheese and cream cheese along with sugar-free jell-o to reduce the calories and combined the great taste of strawberries and cheesecake. I hope you enjoy it too.

For the recipe go to Seekyt 
This post linked to Foodie Friday 

Strawberries Dipped in White Chocolate

Its strawberry season and ours are looking so good. I am using them any way I can while they are fresh.
At our daughter's wedding, they had chocolate dipped strawberries but by the time the bridal party and parents got there, the chocolate dipped strawberries were gone. Not to let that stop me from ever tasting this good treat I decided to make my own.
I'll show you how I made my strawberries dipped in white chocolate.

 To Read Full Article on Seekyt
This post linked to Foodie Friday , Friday Potluck  and Sweets for a Saturday