Strawberry Growing Calendar: Autumn Planting to Summer Runners

The shape of the year

Strawberries are a long season crop: planted in autumn and picked the following spring. Each season has a distinct job. Autumn is for roots, winter is dormancy and accumulating cold, spring is flowers and fruit, and early summer is for raising next year's plants.

Most failures are a job done in the wrong season. Feeding in winter, mulching in autumn, letting runners grow while you are still picking: each of them costs you in the season that follows. Decide what you will and will not do in each part of the year.

Autumn is for building roots

Early autumn goes on soil preparation and getting hold of plants. Compost needs to be in two weeks before planting, and keep the base fertilizer light. Good plants sell out, so order early if you want a particular variety.

Once planted, late autumn is almost nothing. Check they have taken and remove any flowers that open. Feeding now gives you leaf and a poor entry into dormancy.

1. What not to do in early autumn Do not keep pushing the young plants with fertilizer. Nitrogen still in the plant makes flower bud formation harder and you go into winter with a leafy plant and no buds.
2. Planting is a single day's work Make the bed, plant without mulch, and water thoroughly, all on the same day. A rootball that goes through a night dry is slow to establish.
3. The late autumn check One new leaf means the plant has taken. On any that have not, dig around the base and check that the crown is not buried.

Water generously on planting day only. After that, water when dry rather than keeping the soil constantly wet.

Winter is for resting and firming up

Early winter is when you strip the old leaves and lay the mulch. Dead leaves left in place are where gray mold overwinters, so clear the crowns before you cover anything. In midwinter, do nothing but look.

Feed in late winter to switch the plant over to spring. The timing matters: shortly before new leaves move. Earlier and it cannot take it up, later and it misses the trusses.

Spring is all about flowers and fruit

Take the frost protection off in early spring and flowering begins. A late frost blackens the center of a flower and that flower is finished, so cover on cold nights only and uncover in the morning.

Mid to late spring is the picking season. Hand pollinate and thin the flowers to even up the fruit, and take out spoiled berries every day. Keep feeding to a weak liquid feed every fortnight so you do not push the leaves.

1. In early spring, watch only for frost On nights forecast below about 37F (3C), lay row cover over the flowers. Take it off in the morning or it overheats and the pollinators cannot get in.
2. In mid spring, pollinate every morning Build brushing the open flowers into the morning round. Take off any misshapen young fruit at the same time and the rest come even.
3. In late spring, remove spoiled fruit One moldy berry infects its neighbors. Carry spoiled fruit off the plot as often as you pick.

Cut off any runners that appear while you are still picking. They take resources that should be going into the fruit.

Early summer is for next year's plants

Once picking finishes, stop cutting the runners and let them run. Choose parent plants that cropped well, tasted good and stayed healthy, and mark them. This choice decides next year's crop.

In midsummer, root the young plants into pots and detach them after three or four weeks. Late summer is a battle with heat and drought: keep them in half shade and never let them dry out. In early autumn stop feeding and keep them on the dry side.

Working out what went wrong

This year's crop was mostly decided last autumn. If the spring crop disappointed, look back at planting time and the thickness of the plants rather than at what you did in spring.

Three dates are enough to record: the day you planted, the day the first flower opened, and the day you first picked. That tells you whether you are ahead or behind next year.