Growing Strawberries in Raised Garden Beds

This hub is about starting strawberry seeds from scratch. The name of the strawberry we will be growing is the Sarian.

The Sarian produces strawberries from seed the first year. I am hopeing that by planting these this fall, I will have a good crop for next spring. Some varieties of strawberries take several years to start producing.

The Sarian is a day-neutral strawberry. What does this mean?

Day-neutral is the amount of light sensitivity of the variety. Day-neutral strawberries will blossom and set fruit no matter how long or short the days are.

Sarian produces healthy, dark green plants that bear delicious, small to medium sized, deep red berries the first year from mid-summer until frost.

The Sarian is ideal for growing in containers, raised garden beds and hanging baskets.

These plants produce "runners" which are good for prorogation or just letting them grow and fill in empty spaces.

I intend to try using the runners to fill the garden space between my plants. This way they will act as a natural mulch. This will help prevent weeds from growing and help the garden maintain its moisture.

The Sarian is resistant to fruit rot and powdery mildew. It grows best in zones 5-8. To find your hardiness zone visit the web and type in "hardiness zone." You should get several options to chose from to find out what your zone is.

I started my seeds several weeks ago. I used soil that I bought at my local hardware store. I sifted the soil I would have a fine soil mix.

Then I placed the fine soil in cow pots, but you can use peat pellets, dot pots and even number of garden products out there to help get the seeds germinated.

There is even a device where you can make a "soil block." The soil block marker allows you to make a soil block with a indent in it where you can plant a seed. Once it germinates, the whole block can be dropped into the ground.

Then I put my pots in a leak proof tray. I filled the tray up with water to allow it to soak into the cow pots and soil. Once these were moist, I planted my seeds.

To help me get this going I am using a grow light. This will help me grow my strawberry plants in the house until I am ready to plant them out. It is too hot right now to plant anything outside.

Strawberry seeds are hard to germinate. You may want to use a heating mat to keep a constant high temp above 80 degrees.

I placed a dome over my seeds as well. The dome will help keep moisture and heat steady for my seeds. This will help them germinate. And it will help then seedlings grow into healthier and stronger seedlings.

Follow along with us. As these grow we will post more information and pictures.

You can also follow along on my website at Strawberry Home Page.