Growing strawberries in your backyard not only brings the joy of harvesting fresh, juicy fruits right from your own little green patch but also turns into a delightful experience that can be both productive and profitable. While “Pick your Own farms” are great, what if you have your mini strawberry picking experience for summer and spring right in your backyard and a private experience?
In this guide, I will walk you through how to grow your own strawberries in the backyard with the right steps and care. While this is a great way to get some organic berries, it is also productive and profitable. What are you gonna do with those baskets full of berries? Can’t have them all? Better make a business and sell those strawberries right from your backyard.
Also Read: 15 Best Pick Your Own Raspberry Farms in Vermont
How to Grow Strawberries in Your Backyard? A Basic Walkthrough Guide
Before we start growing strawberries in our backyard, we need to do some recce and get all our tools.
Your backyard site for planting strawberries should be open to sunlight; strawberry plants need a lot of sunlight, at least 6-8 hours a day, to give out good produce. Additionally, the soil should be well drained with slight acidic nature (PH between 5.5 to 6.8). You can run a soil test to determine the soil type and acidic nature with this Soil PH kit.
Check if the soil is fertile enough, and use organic matter or compost in the soil before planting to improve soil health and drainage. It’s important to be careful while using fertilizers that are rich in nitrogen. Using too much of such fertilizers can promote leaf growth instead of fruit production.
Tools on Amazon That You Might Need,
- Garden Spade, Trowel, and Shovel
- Soil PH Tester
- Garden Fork
- Garden Hoe or Cultivator
- Watering Can or Hose with Soaker Attachment
- Garden scissors or pruners
- Organic Fertilizer (Best if you can prepare compost right in your backyard with leftover food)
Step 1: Choosing the Right Strawberry Variety
The first and foremost thing to do is pick the right variety of strawberries based on the climate, soil type, and other key factors. There are popularly three main types of strawberry varieties: June-bearing, Everbearing, and day-neutral.
- June-bearing strawberries: Produce a single, large crop per year, usually over a period of 2-3 weeks in early summer. It is well-suited if you want to make your strawberries specific to the summer.
- Everbearing: This variety yields two crops, one in early summer and another in early fall.
- Day-neutral: Capable of producing fruit throughout the growing season, given ideal conditions.
There are two steps in picking the right variety of strawberry seeds: the first step is to understand how much and how frequent yield you wish to have. If you want a single large yield for summer, which is also great for Pick Your Own backyard farm, you might want to go with June-bearing. But remember, a larger yield requires larger space and more work. Likewise, you can work around everbearing and day-neutral strawberry varieties to meet your needs.
The second step is to visit a local nursery and understand what kind of strawberry seeds they grow. This will help you research the right kind of seeds based on the climate and soil conditions.
- June-bearing strawberry live roots (Read instructions on how to plant them and take care)
- Everbearing strawberry seeds
- Day-neutral strawberry live roots
Each variety of seed or root has its own method of planting and taking care of. It is important to offer good sunlight and to follow the instructions that come along with these seeds or live roots for the best results.
Step 2: Preparing Your Site
Before you start sowing the seeds right into the soil, it is important that you keep your backyard ready with all the necessary checks. If you haven’t done the soil test yet, I recommend you run a PH test on the backyard soil, where you are likely going to start your mini strawberry farm. Ensure the pH results are between 5.5 and 6.8 and the soil is loamy and well-drained, which is the ideal situation for the strawberry roots.
Also, it is important to choose a sunny spot in your backyard where your berries get enough sunlight. Those strawberry plants need at least 6-8 hours of sunlight to grow well.
In addition, to ensure our produce is more fruitful, we are going to use organic fertilizer. For this, you can either use Organic Fertilizer from Amazon or make your own organic compost. I personally love the idea of digging up a pit and making my own organic compost in the backyard.
Also Read: Starting a Backyard Orchard in New Jersey: Tips and Care
Step 3: Planting the Seeds/Roots
Depending on the variety of strawberries you have picked for the plantation, you have two types: live roots and seeds. We already have our soil ready with all the organic compost, and we have a site on the sunny side, so we just have to drop them in, right? Well, not exactly. There is some math here.
Each seed or root is to be placed 18 inches apart in rows that are about 4 feet apart from the next row. This kind of spacing allows for easy access for maintenance and harvesting. If anything is close, it will be difficult to harvest the berries, as some crops might not give a proper yield due to compactness. When planting the live roots, give them some time to adjust; maybe put them in a plant pot first for a few days so they can regain their senses, and you can then transfer them to the soil in your backyard.
For planting, you can use a Gardening trowel with a spade and dig a proper hole. Ensure the soil is moist when you touch it, and after placing the seed or roots, cover it up well. You can mix a little organic compost if you haven’t already done a lot of it during soil preparation.
After covering it up, you can spray some water using your water can to keep the soil moist.
Step 4: Mulching and Watering
Watering is one of the most crucial parts of farming, be it of any size, even when it is in your backyard. When watering your strawberry roots or seeds, ensure they get at least 1 inch of water per week and more during hot and dry weather. Do not overdo watering; most people are excited and leave the hose running for a long time; it will only run down the soil, and the soil lose all its capacity.
Keeping the soil temperature stable is also one of the challenging parts if you live in a hot temperature. Use straw or pine needle mulch around your plants in layers. You can use 2 to 3 inches of these, and it will help maintain the moisture and temperature and prevent weeds.
You can also use Neem as an herbicide to prevent weeds from growing on your plants. To make a herbicide at home, mix 1 ml of neem oil with 100 ml water and transfer it to a spraying bottle. Spray this mixture on your strawberry plants once a week, and this should avoid any fungal growth and eliminate all pests. Do not overdo it.
Get ready to use Neem Oil spray from Amazon.
Step 5: Fertilizing
After planting, feed your strawberries with a balanced 10-10-10 fertilizer twice, once after planting and again in midsummer, to boost growth and fruit production. These fertilizers contain micronutrients that release nitrogen and help your strawberry plants flourish with all the micronutrients.
Fertilizers like The Andersons PGF Balanced are a great pick as the size of the fertilizer is small, it is safe for all turf types, and also contains 2% iron for your plants.
To use the fertilizer, mow the area (do not harm the plants) and spread the fertilizer on the soil (refer to the table at the back of the packet to know the size). Do not use this fertilizer before heavy rainfall, as it will wash away and come in no good use. Once you spread it, water the soil for at most 0.2 inches so the particles can mix up with the soil and reseal the remaining packet.
Avoid over-fertilizing, which can lead to excessive leaf growth at the expense of fruit. Use the fertilizer every 6-8 weeks to get optimal produce when harvesting.
Step 6: Protecting Your Strawberries
Protect your strawberries from birds and pests by installing netting around your plants. If you want to do something for the birds, you can build your DIY bird feeder and place it in the other direction of your mini strawberry farm. We already have a guide on bird feeding; do check it out once for all the helpful resources.
To protect your plants, you can use this handy garden net from Amazon, which is great for preventing birds and other mini animals from coming for your berries. But do remember, these animals have teeth and tear up the net. So, you might have to do the garden nets a couple of times before you actually harvest your produce.
Also, keep an eye out for diseases like powdery mildew or leaf spot and treat them promptly with organic fungicides. But as we are using the neem oil spray, as discussed in the 4th step, these diseases and fungus shouldn’t be causing any trouble.
A Few Tips
- Keep your strawberry patch weed-free and water regularly. Remove any runners (long stems) to focus the plant’s energy on fruit production.
- For June-bearing strawberries, renovate your patch by thinning out older plants and keeping newer runners for the next season’s growth.
- In colder regions, cover your strawberry beds with straw or mulch to protect them during winter.
Also Read: 15 Best Pick Your Own Blueberries in Vermont
How to Run a Successful Backyard “Pick Your Own” Strawberries Business
Once your harvest is ready, we can market it to attract local audiences to experience a low-cost Pick your Own Strawberries experience.
- Signage and Advertising: Use clear, attractive signs to advertise your pick-your-own strawberry farm. Local social media groups and community boards are great places to spread the word.
- Accessibility: Ensure your strawberry patch is easily accessible and safe for visitors. Provide pathways and signs to guide them.
- Pricing and Packaging: Offer competitive pricing and provide containers or allow visitors to bring their own.
- Experience: Make it a memorable experience by providing tips for picking the best strawberries and recipes they can try with their fresh harvest.
- Offer snacks, drinks, and other recipes made of these fresh strawberries from your backyard to leave a lasting memory in your audience’s mind.
- Feedback: Encourage visitors to leave feedback and suggestions. This can help you improve and grow your business.
If you don’t want to sell these berries and rather celebrate them, you can call all your neighbors for a Pick Your Own strawberry party with all the snacks made up with the fresh strawberry plants in your backyard. A great way to build a bond with everyone around. This way, you can also collect feedback on the strawberries and improve it well with more fruits in your backyard.
Wrapping Up: How to Grow Strawberries in Your Backyard: A Budget-Friendly DIY Guide
Growing strawberries in your backyard can be a rewarding venture with a bit of care and effort. Not only will you enjoy fresh berries, but you can also turn your garden into a profitable venture with a community-focused, pick-your-own strawberry farm.
Remember, the key to success lies in the quality of your strawberries and the experience you offer your visitors. Do send us pictures of your mini strawberry farm so we can showcase it in our community.
Happy planting.
