Planting Strawberries

Strawberry pots are designed specifically for strawberries and can be stacked to make the most of limited space. They also keep the precious fruit off the ground where it can be damaged. Here’s how to plant them up:

What you need to plant strawberries

• Strawberry plants
• Stackable strawberry pots
• Bonemeal Potting soil
• Palm peat Organic fertiliser like Atlantic Fertilisers
• Flower and Fruit
• Vermiculite
• Binding wire
• Water-soluble plant food like Starke Ayres Nutrifeed

What you do

1. In a bucket, mix the soil together: 1 bag of potting soil, 3 handfuls of bonemeal, 1 bucket of palm peat (a block reconstituted in water), 2 handfuls of organic pellet fertiliser and ½ bucket of vermiculite.
2. Make sure there are drainage holes in your strawberry pots, and remove the centrepiece if necessary. These pots come with drainage trays. If you choose other pots, add a layer of gravel over the drainage holes before adding the soil.
3. Add your potting mix to halfway and then transplant the strawberry plants into section – three per pot. Fill in with more soil and press down carefully. Place the next pot on top and continue planting in the same way. Water well when finished.
4. Feed every two weeks with a soluble plant food mixed with water.

Growing babies

Strawberry plants make long suckers that root and become new plants, with a bit of help. To get them started you need a few extra pots filled with the same potting mix as above. The suckers need to remain on the mother plant in order for this to work. Place the shoots in a pot, and secure them in place with a U-shaped piece of binding wire. Water well. Once the shoots have started to grow several new leaves the sucker can be cut off from the main plant and the new plants moved.

TIP: Watch out for snails and remove them by hand or use a snail control product to keep them at bay