How to Grow Perfect Strawberries

Test the soil pH for your strawberry beds at least four to six months before you plant your seedlings. This will give you adequate time to change the pH. Take a soil sample from 6 inches down into the strawberry bed. Fill the enclosed test tube a fourth of the way full with the soil. Add 5 to 6 drops of the testing solution into the test tube and shake it up to mix. Allow the test tube to settle and dip the testing strip down into the solution. Compare the color of the test strip to the results on the testing kit.

Adjust your soil pH to 5.5 through 6.5. According to the Garden Helper, add 4 oz. of hydrated lime per square yard to sandy soils and 25 oz. of hydrated lime per square yard for peat soils to raise the pH by one point. Add 1.2 oz. of sulfur per square yard to lower sandy soils by one point. Add 3.6 oz. of sulfur to lower the pH by one point for all other soils. Wait at least six weeks before you reapply the sulfur or lime.

Dig a small hole the same depth as the nursery pot. Turn your plant upside down and gently tug on the base of the plant to remove it from its original container. Place the plant into the hole and cover the roots with native soil.

Add 5 lbs. of 10-10-10 fertilizer for every 100 feet of strawberry beds. Reapply in late August every year to promote the best yield.

Apply a 3- to 4-inch layer of mulch at the base of your plants in order to hold moisture in the soil and to keep weeds from overtaking your garden beds.

Water your strawberries with 3 to 4 inches of water every week during the growing period. There is no need to water your strawberries when they go dormant in winter.