Soft fruit
How to grow strawberries
Fragaria × ananassa
Plant strawberries in late summer or early autumn for a full crop the following June, or in spring for a lighter first year, in full sun and fertile, free-draining soil. Set the crown level with the soil surface, mulch with straw as the fruit swells, net against birds, and feed with a high-potash strawberry feed in spring and again after cropping. Replace plants every three or four years using your own healthy runners.
- Hardiness
- Fully hardy
- Position
- Full sun
- Soil
- Fertile, free-draining, moisture-retentive
- Ideal pH
- 6.0 to 6.5
- Water
- High, steady from flowering to picking; water the soil, not the fruit
- Feeding
- Moderate feeder
Sowing and planting strawberries
WhenPlant Aug to Sep (best) or Mar to Apr; harvest Jun to Jul (perpetual types to Oct)
Starting off
Plant cold-stored or bare-root runners Aug to Sep for a full crop next June, or pot-grown plants Mar to Apr with the first flowers removed. Propagate by pegging runners into 9 cm pots of compost in Jun to Jul and severing after 4 to 6 weeks. Those free runners are one of the pleasures when you grow your own: the bed renews itself at no cost. Alpine strawberries from seed Feb to Mar at 18 to 20 °C, 2 to 4 weeks. Cambridge Favourite, Honeoye, Malling Centenary.
Spacing and planting
35 to 45 cm apart in rows 75 cm apart, crown exactly at soil level, buried crowns rot, exposed ones dry. Three plants fit a 30 cm pot, or use towers and baskets; raised beds improve drainage and picking.
Varieties worth growing
- Honeoye
- Early June cropper, firm and reliable in a cold spring.
- Cambridge Favourite
- Mid-season, the allotment standard: tolerant of poor soil and bad weather, good flavour, keeps cropping for years.
- Malling Centenary
- Early to mid, large glossy fruit with the best flavour of the modern varieties; the one commercial growers use.
- Mara des Bois
- Perpetual (everbearer) with a wild-strawberry scent, fruiting June to October in flushes. Best in pots where you can keep picking.
- Alpine 'Mignonette'
- Tiny fruit all summer, no runners, grows from seed and edges a bed in shade.
Strawberries month by month
Timings are for central England. Allow two weeks later in the north and on cold, heavy soil.
- January
Nothing outside. Order bare-root runners for March or August.
- February
Sow alpine strawberries indoors at 18 to 20 °C. Cover early beds with cloches for an earlier crop.
- March
Plant pot-grown stock; remove the first flowers. Balanced feed on established beds.
- April
Fleece on frosty nights once flowers open. Open cloches on early beds by day so insects can reach the flowers.
- May
Straw or mat the bed. Top-dress pots with Strawberry Feed as flowers open. Net.
- June
Pick every two days. Water in the morning, soil not fruit.
- July
Finish picking June-bearers. Cut foliage to 10 cm, clear straw, peg runners into pots.
- August
Sever rooted runners. Plant new beds from bare-root runners, the best month to do it.
- September
Finish new planting. Keep perpetual types picked and fed.
- October
Last perpetual fruit. Tidy beds, remove dead leaves.
- November
Mulch lightly with compost between plants. Replace any bed in its fourth year.
- December
Rest. Pots can stay out; they need the cold.
Feeding strawberries
A moderate feeder that wants potash from flowering and almost no nitrogen. That is why the best fertiliser for strawberries is high in potash and low in nitrogen, like Strawberry Feed 3-2-7. Soft, rotting fruit means you fed it like a lettuce.
Potassium-leaning, a high-potassium feed from flowering boosts fruit, while too much nitrogen gives leaf and soft, rot-prone berries.
Feeding plan
Planting, beds
100 to 170 g/m² worked into the top 15 cm, or 15 to 40 g per plant in the hole.
Planting, pots
5 to 10 g per litre of compost; a 30 cm pot (10 litres, three plants) takes 50 to 100 g.
Early March, established beds
A light dose of 50 g/m² between the rows, raked in. In pots, 1 to 3 g per litre of pot volume.
First flowers to last pick, pots, every 4 to 6 weeks
1 to 3 g per litre of pot volume, scattered on the compost and watered in: 10 to 30 g for a 10 litre pot of three plants. Beds fed in March need nothing more until after the cut-back.
After the July cut-back
50 g/m² to build next year's flower buds, which form in August and September.
Older leaves yellowing between veins
Kieserite (magnesium sulphate)
2 g per litre of water as a drench; never dolomitic lime, which raises the pH.
Signs to watch
Older leaves yellow between the veins
Magnesium short after heavy potash
Epsom salts or kieserite
Pale small leaves and small fruit
Nitrogen short
A balanced feed in March only
Lush leaf and soft rotting fruit
Nitrogen excess
High-potash feed only from flowering
Flowers with black centres
Frost, not nutrition
Fleece
Pests, diseases and problems
Fruit eaten from below, slime trails
Slugs and snails under the leaf canopy
Straw or a mat under the fruit, pick on a damp evening with a torch, nematodes in May.
Fruit covered in grey fur and collapsing
Grey mould (Botrytis), worst in a wet June
Keep fruit off the soil, space plants so air moves, pick every two days and remove any mouldy fruit at once so spores do not spread.
Ripe fruit pecked, whole berries gone
Blackbirds
Net the bed from the first colour, pegged down at the edges.
Plants in pots wilt and lift out with no roots
Vine weevil grubs
Nematodes watered into the compost in late August and again in April; fresh compost each time you repot.
White powder on the upper leaves, leaf edges curling up
Powdery mildew in a dry summer
Water the roots consistently, remove the worst leaves after harvest, choose a variety with some mildew resistance.
Plants stunted with reddish leaves, roots rotting from the tip with a red core
Red core (a soil fungus) on wet, heavy ground
Raise the bed, improve drainage, and start again on fresh ground with certified plants.
Pruning and harvest
Pruning and care
After the June to July harvest cut the leaves to 10 cm above the crown, clear straw and old leaves, remove runners and feed; perpetual types are only tidied. Replace plants and bed every 3 years.
Harvest and storage
Pick fully red, dry and in the morning, pinching the stalk 1 cm above the calyx; go over the bed every 2 days. First fruit about 60 days after spring planting; 300 to 500 g per plant in year 2, less in year 3, then replace. Eat the same day, fridge 2 days, or freeze and jam.
Good to knowReplace plants every three or four years.
Growing strawberries in pots
Three plants fit a 30 cm pot, or one per pocket in a strawberry tower; a window box 20 cm deep takes a plant every 20 cm. Use peat-free multipurpose with a fifth grit for drainage and the Strawberry Feed mixed in. Pots dry out fast in June and dry roots at flowering means small fruit, so water daily from the first flowers. Lift pots onto bricks over winter so they drain, and repot into fresh compost every spring: the plants only last three seasons anyway.
Strawberries: common questions
When do you feed strawberry plants?
Twice a year on beds: a light dose of Strawberry Feed in March as growth starts, and another after the July cut-back to set next year's flower buds. Plants in pots also get a top-dress of 1 to 3 g per litre every 4 to 6 weeks from the first flowers to the last pick, watered in. Nothing in autumn or winter.
Should I cut back strawberries after fruiting?
Yes, for June-bearing types: cut the leaves to 10 cm above the crown straight after the last pick, clear the straw and old leaves, and feed. Perpetual types are only tidied, because they are still fruiting.
Why are my strawberries small?
Dry roots at flowering, plants older than three years, or too many runners left on. Water daily from flowering, replace the bed every third year, and cut runners off unless you want new plants.
Sources
Growing information on this page was checked against these references in November 2026. Feeding rates are Dr Forest label rates.