New strawberry patch

Hi Guys,

I just ripped up all of the old strawberries as they were (mostly) dead. Got a good 4 years or so out of them.

As you can see from the photo I have a clean slate now.

My query is ... what steps do I need to take to prepare the soil and eventually fill this space with strawberries? Im in the UK so also wondering what type of strawberries and when to plant them.

many thanks

 

Hi,

Like many crops its not normally good practice to grow the same crop on the same ground, partic for Strawbs where its so common for disease to be left over from the old ones.

If you cannot replace all the soil or choose another site, then suggest you fill up that bed with plenty of well rotted compost / manure and some fresh soil and they may give a good crop.

So many varieties to choose from, probably worth getting a selection and seeing which grow and taste best, plant anytime from now.

While many supply them in larger packs, some do supply in one offs, though like lots of plants, they are getting in short supply with all the Covid gardeners
Strawberry Plants for Sale, UK Grown | Ashridge Nurseries

Plenty of planting and growing guides around eg -
Ken Muir Growing Guides

 

I'm starting a new strawberry bed this year, but waiting until Aldi get their cheap packs of 6 strawberries in stock, which is normally around the end of March.

 

Still no cheap packs of strawberries at Aldi, only small plants about the same size as in their 6 packs but in 3 litre pots and priced at £2.99.

Luckily I was given 22 runners to pot up

 

As for what type, I've had a couple of goes at shoot-outs of all the varieties I could get from garden centres. Each time I've bought 3 plants of each type to compare them.

Elsanta have always been large but flavourless, exactly like they always are in the supermarkets. Cambridge Favourite have been good each time. ISTR another variety did better on the first time I did this, but that was a few years ago on a different garden, and stupidly I didn't write down what.
YMMV on your garden though, and on what varieties you can get. You may also want to look at the times they're ready, to spread the season out a bit with two or three varieties.

Then you can fill the bed with runner plants for next year, from whichever type works best. The mix you've got will give you fruit for this year, and then next year you'll be ready with the best ones.