How to Grow Eversweet Strawberries

Grow Eversweet strawberry plants in full sun on soil that drains within one hour of irrigation or rain. Select a site that is naturally fertile or that you have amended with 3 bushels of manure per 100 square feet the previous autumn. Preparing the area six months ahead of planting gives the matter time to decompose, improving the ground's fertility and drainage.

Loosen the ground three weeks before planting the strawberries in spring. Broadcast 4 lbs. of 10-10-10 fertilizer per 100 feet of row. Incorporate the nutrient into the soil with a shovel. Rake the bed to smooth it out.

Provide the Eversweet 1 inch of water weekly throughout the growing season. Your goal is to moisten the soil to a depth of 6 to 8 inches every time you irrigate the plant.

Broadcast a 33-0-0 dry fertilizer over the top of the plants halfway through the season, around mid-August. Select a formula that provides nitrogen in the form of ammonium nitrate. This fertilization method is called top-dressing. Use it only when the foliage is dry. Apply 1 1/2 lbs. of fertilizer per 100 feet of row. Rake the strawberry plants gently to move the nutrient downward to the soil surface. Irrigate the plants to water the feed in.

Pick strawberries when they become a uniform red color. The fruit do not all ripen at the same time. Plan to harvest the crops every other day until you have gathered the last strawberry for that production stage. Cut the fruit off the vine in the morning when it is still cool outside. Leave one-fourth of the stem attached to the strawberry.

Cover the strawberry plants with a 6- to 8-inch mulch layer in late fall to shield them from winter weather. Use straw or another similarly loose material. Rake the mulch to the side of the rows in spring. If you expect a late frost, cover the plants again with the same material.

Top-dress the strawberry plants with a 10-10-10 fertilizer annually at winter's end. Apply 4 lbs. per 100 feet of row. Water the feed in.