Manual of Gardening (Second Edition) / A Practical Guide to the Making of Home Grounds and the Growing of Flowers, Fruits, and Vegetables for Home Use

by L. H. Bailey

Ground rich in potash produces the firmest and best flavored berries. Excessive use of stable manure, usually rich in nitrogen, should be avoided, as tending to make too rank growth of foliage and berries of a soft texture.

For most purposes, strawberries should be set as early in the spring as the ground can be worked. The planting can be done with a trowel, spade, or dibble, taking care to spread the roots out as much as possible and to press the soil firmly about them, holding the plant so that the bud will be just above the surface. If the season is late and the weather is hot and dry, some or all of the older leaves should be removed. If water is used, it should be poured about the roots before the hole is filled and as soon as it has soaked away the remaining soil should be packed about the plants. During the first season the blossom stalks should be removed as soon as they appear, and the runners should be restricted to a space about 1 foot wide. Some persons prefer still further to reduce the number of plants, and after layering from three to four plants between those originally set, to remove all others.

Strawberries are often set in August or September, but this is advisable only for small patches or when the soil is in the best possible condition and the highest culture is given. For garden culture, it may pay to secure potted plants (Fig. 290). These are sold by many nurserymen, and they may be obtained by plunging pots beneath the runners as soon as the fruiting season is passed. In August, the plant should fill the pot (which should be 3-inch or 4-inch) and the plant is ready for setting in the plantation. Such plants should bear a good crop the following spring.

During the first season strawberries should be frequently worked, rather deep at first, but as the weather becomes warm and the roots fill the ground, tillage should be restricted to a depth of not more than 2 inches. The weeds should never be allowed to get a start, and if the season is dry, cultivation should be so frequent that the surface soil should at all times be loose and open, forming a dust mulch to conserve the moisture. If the fall is moist and the plantation free from weeds, there will be little occasion for cultivation after the first of September, until just before the ground freezes up, when a thorough cultivation should be given. In addition to the horse cultivation, the hoe should be used whenever necessary to loosen the soil about the plants and to destroy weeds that may start in the row.

After the ground has frozen, it will be advisable to mulch the plants by covering the space between the rows with some waste material to the depth of about 2 inches. Directly over the plants a covering of 1 inch will generally suffice. The material used should be free from the seeds of grass and weeds, and should be such as will remain upon the beds without blowing off and that will not pack down too closely upon the plants. Marsh hay makes an ideal mulch, but where it cannot be secured, straw will answer. Corn fodder makes a clean but rather coarse mulch, and where they can be held in place by some other material, forest leaves do well as a mulch between the rows. In the spring the straw should be removed from over the plants and allowed to remain between the rows as a mulch, or all of it may be removed and the soil worked with a cultivator.

A large crop should be produced the second season; many persons think it best to renew the plantation each year, but if the plants are healthy and the ground free from grass and weeds, the plantation can often be retained for a second crop. It will be well to plow the soil away from the rows so as to leave but a narrow strip, and along this the old plants should be cut out so as to leave the new plants about 1 foot apart. If this is done in July, the rows should fill up by winter, so as to be in about the same condition as a new bed.

Insects and diseases of the strawberry.

The insect most commonly troublesome to the strawberry grower is the common June-bug, or May-beetle, the larvae of which are often very common in land that has been in sod. Two years should elapse before sod land is used for this crop.