STRAWBERRIES FOR THE HOME GARDEN 



JOHN L. DOAN 



School of Horticulture for Women, Ambler, Pa. 



Editors' Note: The average home garden is notoriously deficient in fruit, perhaps because 

 of a sub-conscious thought that fruits for current needs can always be bought. They can, of a 

 kind, but not the kind that a gardener can grow for himself. Apart from the matter of intrinsic 

 quality and state of maturity it must be recognized that good fruit is becoming less and less easy 

 to obtain at reasonable prices, and that this deficiency of an acknowledged essential in the dietary 

 must be supplied at home. The general outline of the fruit garden and its latent possibilities 

 were presented last month, and subsequent articles by Mr. Doan will discuss individual fruits, 

 the Bramble family coming next. 



[HE Strawberry is the favorite of both the home garden 

 and of commerce; which is no wonder for it leads in 

 quality and, excepting the Currant and Gooseberry, 

 is the most productive of small fruits. Everbearing 

 varieties that produce fruit on well developed plants of the cur- 

 rent season's growth may be set out in April to bear from August 

 until frost, and give a light crop the following June. The com- 

 mon varieties yield their first crop in June of the year after they 

 are planted in the North; and earlier, of course, in the South. 

 The usual rules as to sites for fruit plantations (i. e. avoiding 

 low ground and giving preference to a northerly slope etc.) 

 apply to the Strawberry. Some varieties, as the Chesapeake, 

 require a sandy type of soil; others, as Gandy, prefer a heavy 

 soil. Fortunately, however, many kinds, including the majority 

 of leading varieties, thrive equally on different soils. A moist, 

 well drained loam, abundantly supplied with humus, is desirable; 

 it may range from a sandy to a clay loam. The care that the 

 crop receives is much more important than the type of soil it is 

 planted in, which is fortunate, for the home gardener can use 

 the site and soil he has, making the most of them. 



Feeding for Futures 



FOR spring planting it is better that the ground be plowed 

 or spaded the autumn before, but at any rate as early in 

 the spring as it works well, and be made as mellow as possible 

 before planting. If the soil be already liberally supplied with 

 well decayed organic matter, manure may be omitted and a 

 mixture of equal parts of bone meal, acid phosphate, and muri- 

 ate or high grade sulphate of potash, may be broadcasted at 

 the rate of 8 to 10 lbs. per square rod, after the ground has been 

 thoroughly prepared. If it needs enrichment, about ioo to 150 

 lbs. of well rotted stable manure may be applied to each square 

 rod and worked into the surface soil to a depth of only four 

 inches so that the roots may reach it easily. About 3 lbs. of the 

 fertilizer mixture above mentioned may be used with it. 



Get plants that are healthy, vigorous, well rooted, and of only 

 one season's growth. If the plant be stemless and the roots 

 whitish or yellowish, it is young; a plant having a stem and 

 dark roots is old and should be rejected. Order twenty per cent, 

 more plants than actually needed, to allow for discards. Large 

 size is of no advantage; small plants that are healthy and well 

 rooted will produce equally good and productive beds. Medium 

 sized plants are probably best. 



Systems of Training 



THERE are several systems of training strawberry beds — 

 the Hill, Hedge-row, Spaced Row, and Matted Row, each 

 one having good points. 



In the Hill System the plants are set from 12 x 12 in. to 18 x 

 18 in. apart each way, usually in beds four plants wide with 

 narrow walks between. No runner plants are allowed to grow 

 and the original plants become very large. Good yields of very 

 large choice fruits may be obtained by this method. Careful 

 tests at different experiment stations, however, indicate that 

 for a large majority of varieties this is less productive than some 

 other methods, while it involves much more labor and three or 

 four times as many parent plants. Only the varieties that are 



not free plant makers, such as Chesapeake and Marshall, are 

 suitable for this system. From no to 230 plants per square 

 rod are required. 



In the Single Hedge-Row System the plants are set about 2 feet 

 apart in equally distant rows, and each plant is allowed to 

 produce two new ones, one on each side of it, in the row. About 

 68 plants are required per square rod. 



In the Triple Hedge-Row System the plants are set 2 to 3 feet 

 apart in rows 2\ to 3 feet apart. Each plant is allowed to 

 produce two new ones in the original row, and two or three in 

 each of the rows that are trained on either side of it from 9 to 1 2 

 inches away. There are different methods of bedding the rows. 



In the Spaced Row System the plants are set from 18 to 36 

 inches in rows 3 to 5 feet apart, the distances being determined 

 largely by the length and number of the runners the variety 

 produces. However, when an everbearing variety is planted 

 that bears fruit on the new plants, it is preferable to set the 

 plants 18 to 24 inches apart in rows not over 3 or 3§. feet apart, 

 so that the rows may be filled comparatively early in the sum- 

 mer, leaving a long bearing period for the same season. The 

 runner plants being so placed as to avoid crowding and prevent 

 waste of space are arranged with less exactness than in the Triple 

 Hedge-Row. After the ground becomes well occupied, all sur- 

 plus runners are destroyed. From 19 to 60 plants are needed 

 for each square rod. 



In the Matted Row the runners are allowed to grow at will. 

 Usually they are thinned out later; but, as a rule, not sufficiently. 

 The planting distances are the same as for the spaced row. The 

 yield may be very large; but the fruit is not so choice as that 

 produced by the other systems. 



The most satisfactory distance apart to bed the forming 

 Strawberry plants may vary from 6 to nearly 1 2 inches, accord- 

 ing to the variety and local conditions. As a general rule they 

 should be a little farther apart than the span of the hand. 



Preparing the Rows and Setting Plants 



HAVE the soil slightly elevated where the rows are to be 

 planted, stretching a garden line where the row is to go. 

 Its position may be marked upon the ground by walking upon 

 the line, which is then moved out of the way; and the plants are 

 set out the desired distances apart along the print of the line. If 

 one should plant along the stretched line it might be pressed to 

 one side, causing a crooked row. Unless the plants are ob- 

 tained near by and moved with balls of earth, all but one or two 

 leaves had better be removed from each plant, and the roots 

 shortened back about one fourth. The reduction of the foliage 

 lessens the loss of moisture, and the removal of the injured tips 

 enables the roots to heal and throw out feeding branches more 

 quickly. 



Set the plant with its crown (i. e. that part where the root 

 system meets the bases of the leaf stalks) exactly even with the 

 surface of the soil. If too high, the roots may dry out; if too 

 deep, the whole plant is likely to rot. The roots should be 

 spread well apart and the soil pressed firmly against them. The 

 plants may be carried in a pail of water and dropped, a few at 

 a time, as needed. The garden trowel is a convenient and 

 satisfactory planting tool. Thrust it diagonally into the soil 



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