How to Plant Bare Root Strawberries in Hanging Baskets

Fill a 12- to 14-inch diameter hanging basket two-thirds full with potting soil. Use a basket that has at least one bottom drainage hole. Select a light-colored basket, which won't absorb heat and will help keep the strawberry roots cool.

Make three 2-inch tall mounds of soil on the soil surface in the basket, spacing the mounds equally apart. Set a strawberry plant on each mound so the roots trail down the sides of the mound. Adjust the height of the mound, if necessary, so the crown of the plant, where stems attach to roots, sits 1 inch beneath the basket rim. Fill in around the roots of the strawberries with soil until the crown sits just above the soil surface.

Hang the basket in an area that receives six or more hours of direct sun daily. Hang the basket low enough so you can easily access it for plant care and harvest.

Water the strawberries after you hang them; otherwise the basket may be too heavy to lift easily when the soil is wet. Provide water until it just begins to drip out the bottom drainage holes. Check the soil moisture daily, and water when the top 1 inch of soil feels dry.

Dissolve 1 tablespoon of 24-8-16 soluble fertilizer in 1 gallon of water, or use a similar all-purpose vegetable fertilizer at the package-recommended rate. Water the strawberries with the solution at seven to 14 day intervals from the first fruit set through late summer.

Cover the plants with a thin layer of cheesecloth if birds or squirrels try to damage the developing berries. Pot-grown strawberries are protected from most insects and disease organisms since they are grown separate from other garden plants and weeds. If a plant shows symptoms of disease, destroy it immediately to prevent it from spreading to other plants. Most strawberry diseases are viral and can't be cured.

Cut back the foliage in midfall to within 3 inches of the soil. Remove any runners, or long vines, from the plant. Set the pots in an unheated but protected area, such as a shed, and cover the soil surface in each pot with straw to provide further insulation. Move the pots outdoors and resume regular care in spring after most frost danger is past.