Strawberries - permie/companion planting

[Mini Horses]

I'd leave the onions, some pest control there & they take little ground area. The strawberries will quickly fill out & cover that area. Personally, I'd let them. Maybe something tall in center for contrast. But, most strawberries are lovely plants. I hope they are an everbearing type so that you have some bloom and fruit over the entire summer. Looks good.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

In Florida, strawberries are treated as an annual crop, and they are interplanted with Vidalia onions. Both grow amazingly well. By the time the strawberries are done, the onions weigh about 2# each. As for Lupine, it is a nitrogen fixer. We recently tore out a flower bed that was full of lupine. You should have seen that fantastic soil left behind! Lupine would be fantastic in the middle of that strawberry bed. Knowing that it's a nitrogen fixer, as well as an attractant for bees, I may stick some in the orchard.

 

[flowerbug]

nothing or very minimal stalky plants until after the first strawberry crop is done, then plant beans and peas as a cover crop to provide some shade during the middle of the summer and through the hotter time of the season, then after that chop 'em and use as compost/mulch.

i used beans in the center of a strawberry patch which were planted before the strawberries ran very far and that worked to keep most of the runners from growing inwards that season. i got about 40lbs of soybeans from the center planting.

strawberries are woodland/edge plant which like a lot of organic material and enough moisture that their roots don't get too dry.

they also need to be renovated every few years or they don't produce as well.

 

[tortoise]

This little garden went to heck last year. Its full of strawberry runners and I forgot to mulch again for weed suppression.

The strawberries didnt produce well and my kids eat them before I can pick them.

I will be planting something different in spring. Maybe asparagus seed again since it did so well there before.

 

[Britesea]

I decided I'm going to replace our regular strawberries with alpine strawberries this year. I'm tired of dealing with runners! Alpine strawberries are small, but way more flavorful, and the two plants I have tucked into a corner gave us about a handful of berries every other day ALL SUMMER LONG. I've got room for about 30 plants, so...

 

[Daisy]

I got some alpine strawberry seeds to try as well. I found out, quite accidently, that the strawberries I already had in pots seem to like growing with sunflowers. The plants under the sunflowers are going better than the ones without that cover., I get a little feed of strawberries most mornings - only small but enough for me for a snack

 

[Britesea]

thanks, good to know about the sunflowers. Do you grow the big mammoth flowers for seed, or the pretty flower ones, or BOSS?

 

[Daisy]

Total unintentional discovery I occasionally throw out a handful of black sunflower seeds from the stockfeed for the wild birds. Those that landed in the strawberry pots grew of their own accord. They are pretty and smaller than the tall seed type, but do still get a nice seed head I can re-grow from or give to the ducks. I pulled a few before flowering to feed the ducks as I worried so many in a pot would strangle the strawberries, but so far they seem to enjoy the company

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I need to try and remember to plant sunflowers this year... Either I forgot last year or they declined the invitation to grow!

 

[Britesea]

I transplanted a bunch of volunteer BOSS plants to the south side of the house, hoping they would help to keep the house a bit cooler; but they didn't grow tall enough. This year I will try planting some of the Mammoth strain, plus maybe a couple of hop vines if I can come up with a good trellis. Wonder if the hops outside the open windows will help us sleep? I know hops are good for that in dream pillows.