If you are itching to get your hands dirty in the soil, there are some plants that are ready to be planted outdoors.
Strawberries, for example, do not mind the cooler temperatures. They are already active in the garden after having survived the winter and so there should be no problem in planting new young plants this time of year.
Cultivate the soil and add some peat moss to the soil to bring up the pH level to 6.0 to 6.5 as strawberries prefer a slightly acid soil. While you are cultivating the soil you can also add some old manure.
Plant strawberries in full sun, in a well drained soil. They prefer to be planted in hills or raised beds, with plants 25 to 30 cm apart, in rows 50 cm apart. When planting young potted plants, plant them to the same depth they are in the container. They can also be purchased bareroot. These consist of a crown with roots. It is important when planting these that the crown remains just above the soil's surface, so spread the roots out below the soil's surface and cover them with enough soil so the crown of the plant remains on top of the soil.
If the crown is buried it will rot and that would be end of your plant. After planting always water the plants in to help get them started, and continue to water throughout the season, as they have a shallow root system.
This is also something to keep in mind when cultivating the soil around the plant, as you do not want to disturb the root system. Be careful with your hoe so you don't get too close to the plant. Some local favourite varieties include Totem, Quinalt, and Tri-Star all of which do very well in our northern Zone 3 climate.
Tri-Star are day neutral and will bloom and set fruit regardless of the day length. They are everbearing and will produce a heavy crop in late June or early July (depending on weather) and then continue to produce well into September when there is another heavier yield.
Quinault is also an everbearing, day neutral variety which produces nice tasting, good sized berries and is good for growing in containers. The plant does very well and is rarely bothered by disease.
Totem is a June-bearing strawberry that produces one large crop in late June or early July for two to three weeks, which is the only time they produce, making it a good variety if you want to make jam and need lots of strawberries at one time. It has proven itself, as it has been grown locally for more than 30 years.
Every three to four years the berries will become smaller on the plants and this is an indicator that the plants are declining and will need to be replaced with new young plants. So, if you noticed that last year your berries were not as large as they were before, then this would be a good time to replace them.
What we do at home is, when we know that the strawberry plants will need to be replaced the following year, we plant a new strawberry patch the year before and this way the new patch will be in full production the following year when it is time to take out the old plants.
In this way we always have a full yield of strawberries.
Another tip to get the most out of your strawberry plants if you planted the everbearing varieties is to cover the plants with Reemay (a frost protection blanket ) in the fall when there is a risk of night frost.
This protects the berries from frost and allows them to continue to ripen so that you can continue to enjoy fresh strawberries longer.
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