Nothing ushers in summer like fresh-picked strawberries. These perennial fruits are an essential for small-scale homesteads, and growing strawberries is easier than you think!
To make the most of this fleeting, yet oh so sweet taste of summer – we’ve got tips and tricks on growing, picking and preserving all the local strawberries you possibly can.
I promise, you will thank yourself as you make a strawberry smoothie or strawberry muffins come winter.
Strawberries are one of our little homestead’s most anticipated foods by every member of our family. So, we spend some time prepping and loving on the gardens so they produce to their fullest. Here’s how we work at growing great strawberries.
How to Grow Great Strawberries at Home
Strawberries are as close to instant gratification as you can get with a perennial fruit. I recommend planting bare root plants, as you have more choice on suitable varieties. They’re also less expensive than potted plants, and the bare root plants seem to do better in the long run. The catch is you want to plant them in late May, before the heat of summer comes on too strong. You’ll soak the roots for an hour or two before planting. During the first growing season, plan to pinch off the first few buds that form, but let the next rounds of flowers mature to pick fruit later in the season.
Growing Strawberries in Minnesota (Zone 4–5 Tips)
Winter Protection: Cover with 3-4 inches of straw or pine needles after the first hard freeze to protect roots from severe cold.
Frost: Cover flowers in early spring if frost is predicted to avoid blackened, sterile flowers
Birds: Use bird netting to protect ripening fruit.
Slugs: Use beer traps or sand to deter slugs.
Water Well: Consistent moisture (1-2 inches/week)
Best Location for Growing Strawberries
Choose a sunny spot (8+ hours) with good drainage, preferably a sandy-loam soil as strawberries do not like wet feet. They also enjoy slightly acidic soil.
Plant 12–24” apart. And as their name ‘STRAWberry’ suggests, they like to be mulched with STRAW. There are different varieties that will do well in Zones 3–8, making it a widely adaptable perennial fruit.
Note that once established, strawberry plants spread by runners and will need to be managed to keep from getting overgrown. Cutting and replanting or gifting the ‘daughter’ plants is a great way to spread the strawberry love!
Main Varieties of Strawberries
June Bearing
This variety is harvested in June and early July here in Minnesota, with a concentrated harvest window of 3-4 weeks. These are the biggest producers in the shortest time. Best if you want a shorter harvest period, and are focused on preserving. Typically June bearing varieties offer slightly larger berries, and are the ones most often grown at Pick Your Own berry farms.
**I grow mostly Honeoye, a June bearing.**
Ever Bearing Strawberries
These strawberries produce two main crops; summer and fall with waves of smaller harvests in between. This is a good choice if your main goal is to eat fresh berries throughout the growing season as they offer a prolonged harvest. You can often harvest in the first year after planting as well.
Day Neutral
These produce a smaller crop, but for most of the growing season. As the name implies, day neutral plants are not sensitive to the length of the days, often producing a larger yield over the whole season compared to June bearing. These plants also are bred to have more disease resistance, but also often treated as an annual crop by larger growers.
Learn more about growing other Perennial Foods
Why Local Strawberries Taste Better
Did you know strawberries don’t ripen after being picked?! So those strawberries that you buy from a grocery store that spent days travelling across the country will never taste as good as ones you pick when fully ripe. Locally grown berries tend to be sweeter, smaller, more nutritious, and denser than the varieties of berries grown to sit in grocery stores.
Both flavor and nutrition start to degrade soon after picking. The vitamin C content and the antioxidant amounts fade quickly. Strawberries are best within 24 hours of being picked, although some people have luck extending the life of their fresh berries by soaking them in one-part apple cider vinegar to one-part water for a few minutes before drying very thoroughly and refrigerating.
When Are Strawberries in Season in Minnesota?
In our area, with a split growing Zone 4/5, strawberries make an appearance for about 4 weeks every year, from June to early July. The window for picking is short, so make time for it as soon as you hear the buzz.
Going to a Pick Your Own (PYO in berry lingo) is a great way to increase your local berry harvest. Our fabulous MN Grown has a directory of PYO farms! Even though we grow a lot of strawberries we usually go and pick some as well, bags of frozen strawberries feel like food insurance!
I know this is a post all about strawberries, but let’s give a shout out
to the PYO Blueberry Farms that will be up in mid-July!
How to Preserve Strawberries
Strawberries are a delicious source of vitamin C, one of the many antioxidants that make strawberries such a healthy food. Did you know that just one cup provides more than the recommended daily allowance? Strawberries are also an excellent source of fiber (3 grams/cup), folate, and potassium, to name a few.
To get the most flavor and nutrition out of the fresh and local berries, make sure you eat as many as humanly possible (ha) right away and preserve the rest within 24–48 hours of harvesting them.
I tend to remove hulls and flash freeze as we harvest, because the quicker they go from living to frozen the better! Just hull and quickly rinse (or skip if they’re your own and you feel OK with that) and place in a single layer on a pan and freeze overnight. Place into a freezer bag and squeeze out air the next day.
Freezing the berries is an excellent way to protect their flavor and nutrition. Plus, savoring those summer flavors deep in winter is downright magical!
I love making freezer jam, as I think it tastes way better than the cooked versions. Use MY RECIPE for that fresh strawberry favor all winter long.
Remember you can use strawberry jam to make my Strawberry Vinaigrette too!
Fresh strawberries are especially tasty on fresh local greens for a summer salad, or drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar, or served over vanilla ice cream.
But really, there’s no wrong way to eat strawberries!
Growing Strawberries FAQs
When should I plant strawberries in Minnesota?
Plant strawberries in May in cooler climates, giving them time to settle in and flower before the heat of summer hits.
How long do strawberries take to grow?
It depends on which variety you plant, you will get a harvest the first year you plant day neutral varieties. You should pick off the first flush of flowers from everbearing and June bearing varieties, so you’ll get a much smaller harvest from those the first year. But know that strawberry patches can last for at least 5 years when well maintained.
Do strawberries need full sun?
Yes, strawberries will produce best in 10 hours of sunlight, but 6-8 hours of direct sunlight is sufficient.
Do strawberry plants come back every year?
Yes, Strawberry plants are perennials that come back year after year, but each main crown will only produce well for a few years, so you’ll need to make sure some of the runners (daughter plants) set root to keep your patch growing strong.
Have I convinced you to try growing your own strawberries yet?
Dig In,
Michelle
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