How to prepare a strawberry garden.

After acquiring a summer cottage and starting to arrange it, garden strawberries will surely be one of the first crops that you plant. Everyone loves strawberries, regardless of age. It is eaten fresh, preserves and jams are made, compotes are made and berries are frozen for use in winter. There are many varieties of this wonderful berry, which differ in taste, shape and size of berries, but they are all equally healthy and tasty. The quantity and quality of the crop largely depends not only on the selected variety and plant care, but also on how correctly you chose the place, whether you prepared the soil well.

You can plant strawberries in an ordinary garden bed or build an unusual structure that will be not only practical, but also decorative and will decorate your garden. In this article, we will look at different options for strawberry beds, and you can choose the option that suits you best.

Choosing a place for strawberries, taking into account crop rotation.

When choosing a place for strawberries, keep in mind that this culture loves the sun very much, the bushes will bloom in partial shade, but the berries will grow small and not sweet enough. It is necessary to find a level place protected from the wind. It is allowed to plant a culture on the southern slope, in such a place the berries will ripen at an earlier date, their taste will be sweeter. If you plant strawberries on the northern slope, then the harvest will ripen later than planned, but the berries will be larger. But if you really have to plant strawberries not out of the blue, but on a slope, then the ideal direction will be from east to west. Only gentle slopes are suitable, since otherwise in winter the wind will blow off the snow and expose the beds, which ultimately will lead to freezing and death of plants.

Do not plant berries in lowlands, as there is usually high humidity, and therefore a favorable environment for the development of fungal infections is created. In addition, with high humidity, foliage actively grows, and the number and size of berries decrease.
Some gardeners recommend placing strawberry beds along fences or next to tall shrubs to protect the berry plantings from the wind, but we must not forget that such a shelter will create shade, so it is better to choose an open place for garden strawberries.

In one place, strawberries can grow for 4-5 years, during this period the soil is depleted, so the plantings must be moved to a new place. Crop rotation rules come in handy here: for every crop there are good and unfavorable predecessors. It is undesirable to plant strawberries in a garden where representatives of nightshades (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants or potatoes), cucumbers or sunflowers grew before. But there are much more favorable predecessors after which strawberries will grow well. These are legumes (peas and beans), umbrella (carrots, parsley, celery), garlic, daffodils, tulips and crocuses. If you have a small vegetable garden and you practice compacted planting, then it is very important to choose suitable "neighbors" for strawberries. Beets, onions, radishes, as well as herbs (sage, rosemary, mint) and flowers (marigolds, geranium), which, thanks to their strong smell, will protect strawberries from slugs, snails and other pests.

How to prepare the soil.

Compared to other crops, strawberries can be considered undemanding to the soil. Like many other crops, it dislikes acidic soil, preferring medium or neutral levels.It grows poorly on poor sandy soils, but with any other option it will give a good harvest. And if you try to increase the fertility of the soil, then the quality of the crop will also noticeably improve.

If the soil on the site is acidic, then lime additives will need to be added: chalk, slaked lime, dolomite. But strawberries do not react well to direct contact with lime additives, so it is better to start deoxidizing the soil in advance, one or two years before the expected planting of strawberries. It is also necessary to fertilize the soil in advance so that the fertilizers remain in the soil for several months. If you plan to plant strawberries in the spring, then fertilize the soil during autumn gardening.

If planting is planned at the end of summer, then it is necessary to prepare and fertilize the soil in May-June. As fertilizers, it is necessary to use both organic matter (compost or rotted manure) and complex mineral fertilizers, necessarily containing nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, without which normal maturation of any crop is impossible. Dig up the soil in the bed, remove all plant residues, then spread fertilizer over the surface and dig in the soil again so that all the nutrients are embedded in the soil.

Options for the beds on which you can plant strawberries.

You can arrange strawberries on the site in different ways, we will consider both traditional and decorative options. Each method of landing has its pros and cons, so before finally settling on one thing, you need to weigh the pros and cons.

An ordinary garden bed.

Traditional conservative garden beds where most gardeners grow both strawberries and all other crops. Such beds do not require additional financial investments, special knowledge and skills; even a novice inexperienced gardener can make them.

To create an ordinary bulk bed, you need:
1. Dig up the soil, apply fertilizers, as we said earlier.
2. Form the beds, dividing them with furrows-passages. Depending on how the bushes of garden strawberries are supposed to be planted (in one or two rows), the width of the beds can be 20-50 cm.The height of the beds should be at least 20-25 cm, and the aisles between the beds must be at least half a meter.
3. The shape of the bed should resemble a trapezoid, thanks to this shape, the ground from the sides will not crumble.

After the beds are formed, plant the strawberries at the scheduled time, leaving the distance between the bushes in one row 25-30 cm and 30-40 cm between the rows.

Making such a bed is not difficult at all, but it has its drawbacks:
- the berries are in contact with the soil, get dirty and can rot.
- Caring for plants is complicated by the fact that they are low.

In order to prevent the berries from contacting the soil and keep the soil moist longer after watering, you can resort to mulching. If you choose the right mulching material, then this procedure will perform another important function - it will protect strawberries from slugs and snails that love to feast on delicious berries. Choose sawdust, coniferous litter or branches as mulch, it will be difficult for slugs to move on such a surface, and the smell of needles scares them off altogether.

High bed.

Some gardeners do not advise growing garden crops in high beds, arguing that a hundred plant roots do not have full access to nutrients. But in the event that the groundwater on the site is located close to the surface, high beds remain the only chance to grow a good harvest. Such beds look more decorative, and it is much more convenient to work on them. The height of the beds in this case is limited only by your desire and the materials used.

Work on the creation of such a bed goes in the following order:
1. Mark the contour of the future bed on the surface of the earth.Dig a trench 20 to 40 cm deep along this contour.
2. Decide on the material from which the frame of the bed will be made - it can be a brick (you get the most durable structure), sheets of slate, boards or some other material. Install walls of the selected material around the perimeter of the bed, the height of these walls can be any (the higher the bed turns out, the easier it will be to care for the plants). Experts do not recommend using natural stone for the construction of the frame, since it cools down with the onset of evening and does not help keep the soil warm.
3. Lay drainage on the bottom, for this you can use not only expanded clay, but also branches, trimming boards, broken brick, gravel. It is important that the height of this layer is 15 to 20 cm.
4. After the drainage layer, lay straw, fallen leaves, weeds (without seeds), then a layer of peat, rotted manure or compost - decomposing, this will all provide additional nutrition to your strawberries.
5. Then fill in nutritious soil, tamping and watering so that it settles and there are no voids with air. The garden is ready. Planting strawberries should be kept at the same distance as in a regular garden bed.

Speaking about the disadvantages of such a design, one can note the financial investments and labor costs associated with the construction of the structure. But such beds have much more advantages:

- it is much more convenient to care for strawberries planted in such beds, and they look more beautiful and neat than ordinary bulk beds.
- the garden bed can be placed even in the lowlands, the drainage layer will protect the plant roots from excess moisture.
- the organic matter that you lay when creating the garden generates additional heat and accelerates the ripening of the crop.
- the snow cover in such beds melts faster, and therefore the harvest will be earlier.
- such beds allow you to harvest strawberries in cold regions.
- it is not necessary to weed the aisles between the beds, since the weeds will not reach the beds. You can trim the grass with a trimmer, or tile the aisles with tiles, wood, or other material to make the garden look even more aesthetically pleasing.

Covering the soil with geotextiles.

The use of geotextiles or agrofibers is a relatively new technology, but thanks to a large number of positive reviews, this method is rapidly gaining popularity. In this case, an opaque black non-woven fiber acts as a mulch, that is, it prevents the growth of weeds, protects strawberry roots from cold or overheating, allows moisture to pass through and does not disturb air circulation, and also prevents the berries from contacting the soil, which means they remain clean and do not deteriorate.

The beds are prepared, as in any other case: they dig up the soil, freeing it from plant residues, apply fertilizers and dig it again. Then the beds are formed, the size and height of which is not of fundamental importance. After all the beds are formed, the surface is covered with a covering material, and it is necessary to cover not only the beds, but also the aisles. The edges of the geotextile must be fixed, and stones or boards must be laid in the aisles along the edge of the beds.

Then, on the surface of the geotextile, outline the places in which the strawberry bushes will be planted and make cuts in which you will then plant the plants.

There is nothing complicated in this technology, the further process of caring for strawberries is greatly simplified. There is no need to weed and loosen the beds, the berries remain clean in any weather. The disadvantage of this method can be considered the cost of the covering material, but since it is strong enough, it will serve you for several years.

Vertical structures.

Gardeners and truck farmers resort to this arrangement of strawberries when there is a sorely lack of free space on the site.Creating unusual vertical structures not only allows you to place more plants, but also makes your garden more interesting and unusual.
Such a decorative structure for strawberries can be built from plastic or wooden boxes, from car tires, plastic pipes, bags, from the remains of building materials. The complexity of the design is limited only by the flight of your imagination and construction skills.
It is possible to make a multi-tiered bed of wooden boxes in the form of a pyramid and plant plants around the perimeter of each tier. Difficulty can arise only in the manufacture of a structure, otherwise you need to act in the same way as when growing strawberries in high beds.
You can use flower pots or boxes to grow strawberries by securing them to a base.

Recently, structures made of plastic pipes have been very popular, and they are used in different ways.

1. If a long pipe is cut and then sealed at the edges, you will get a long container that is attached to a wooden base and filled with soil and fertilizer. It turns out a mobile version of the garden, which can be moved around the site depending on the weather and mood.

2. You can also make a vertical bed from the pipe, for this you cut out circles with a diameter of 4-6 cm in it, evenly distributing them over the surface. Then a hose with small holes must be inserted inside the pipe - this is the future drip irrigation system. Solder the lower edge of the outer pipe and hose or install a sealed plug on them. Then fill in the nutrient soil, which should fill the space between the pipe and the hose. The garden is ready, it remains to plant strawberry bushes in the holes. You will water the plants by filling the inner hose with water; liquid fertilizers will also flow through this hose.

The device of such structures may seem complicated only at first glance. Having tried it, you will appreciate the convenience, mobility, decorative qualities and efficient use of space. It is only important to remember that with such a cultivation of strawberries, it is imperative to water and fertilize the plants in a timely manner, since other sources of nutrition are not available to them.

As we have already said, one of the advantages of such beds is mobility, which means that with the onset of autumn you will be able to move strawberries indoors, and therefore are guaranteed to protect them from freezing. In the event that you planted remontant varieties of garden strawberries in such structures, which bear fruit several times a year, you can also enjoy delicious strawberries in the winter months.

Conclusion.

As you can see, there are many options. growing strawberries... Many still grow it in traditional beds, some successfully use geotextiles. An increasing number of gardeners are equipping not only strawberries, but also high beds for other crops, since such designs are very convenient and allow you to give the garden a neat and well-groomed look. But decorative mobile structures are gaining more and more popularity, as they allow you to place many plants in a small area, move them freely around the site, and even extend the season by bringing the structures into a warm room in the fall. What to choose is up to you. The main thing to remember is that you will have strong healthy strawberry bushes and a good harvest only if you are a good preparer for planting: choose a good place, fertilize the soil, take into account the rules of crop rotation. With the observance of agricultural technology and proper care, you will get an excellent harvest of tasty and healthy berries.