How To Grow Strawberries

Here's How:

1. Plant strawberries early. They should be planted after the last frost (around March or April in Little Rock).
2. The simplest way to plant is to use a strawberry jar (one of those pots with pockets). Terra Cotta works best.
3. Decide which species of strawberry you want to plant. Ever-bearing strawberries (like the Ozark Beauty) should bear fruit the year you plant. June bearing strawberries (like the Earliglow) will bear fruit the following year.
4. Fill your strawberry pot up to the first pocket with a rich potting soil that is high in sphagnum peat moss. This will help the strawberry plants retain moisture.
5. Plant a plant in the first pocket letting the leaves and most of the stem hang out.
6. Add soil up to the next pocket and plant another plant.
7. After you are finished planting the pockets fill the jar up the top with soil and plant the remaining plants in the top of the pot. I recommend 6 plants per pot.
8. Water the plants and place them in a sunny location.
9. Water the plants everyday and be sure to pick the berries! The Ozark Beauty should have berries all season. If you don't pick them they won't yield as much fruit.

Tips:

1. You can also plant strawberries in patches or as a ground cover. Just pick a sunny location and water them everyday.
2. When planting pockets on a strawberry pot the smaller plants are best. Larger plants won't fit as easily into the pockets. You can use the larger plants for the top.
3. Strawberries do flower as any fruit bearing plant does. Be careful about placing them on decks and porches because they attract bees.