Wild strawberries differ significantly from typical cultivated strawberries in terms of origin and cultivation. Hobby gardeners find out here how propagation, planting and care can be mastered competently.

Cultivation behind glass

If you no longer want to search for wild strawberries along forest edges and in clearings, plant the delicious fruits in your own garden or on the balcony. The best time for sowing begins in late February and extends to mid-March. How to handle the cultivation in the house:

  • in advance, soak the seeds in water for 4-6 hours
  • Pour peat sand, coconut fibers or commercially available seed soil into a seed tray
  • Scatter the seeds, sieve them thinly and moisten them with water from the spray bottle
  • Cover with foil or place in the indoor greenhouse at 18-20 degrees Celsius

The cotyledons appear within 3 weeks. The cover is now aired more frequently until it falls away completely. It should now be bright at the location, but not full sun and a little cooler so that the seedlings do not wilt. The juveniles are pricked out with 3-4 leaves in individual pots, where they are to be kept constantly moist until planted out.

Select location and prepare carefully

In contrast to sensitive cultivated strawberries, wild strawberries offer more flexibility in terms of location. As the robust plants prove in the wild, they also thrive under less than ideal lighting conditions. The native strawberries reach their optimum under the following conditions:

  • sunny to semi-shady locations
  • problem-free growth also as underplanting of shrubs and trees
  • nutrient-rich, humus-rich, fresh and moist soil
  • Commercial potting soil based on compost serves as a substrate in the flower box or bucket

The soil is deeply loosened so that the self-cultivated or purchased young plants happily take root. Weeds, roots and stones must be completely removed. Ideally, you should clean the excavated material with a throw-through sieve. Then enrich the soil with compost, stable manure, horse manure or a special berry fertilizer.(3.94€)

When is wild strawberry planting time?

You can choose between two planting dates, each with its own advantages. Wild strawberries planted in July will produce the first fruit as early as May next year. Young plants planted in March or April, under good weather conditions, bear the first fruit in the same year.

Guide to professional planting

Give the prepared soil a few days to settle. Then you can start planting without working the clod intensively again.

  • place the potted seedlings in water for 30 minutes
  • in the meantime, dig holes twice the volume of the root ball
  • a planting distance of 20 centimeters is sufficient, or 25 plants per square meter
  • pot out the soaked plants, place them in the soil and water generously
  • the heart bud must be above the surface

In the pot or balcony box, first create a drainage over the bottom openings so that no waterlogging forms. Suitable inorganic material is crushed clay shards, small pebbles, grit (€46.95) or perlite.(€37.51) Then fill the substrate in half, press a hollow in it and plant the wild strawberries.

Proper care from the start

If the planting in the garden and on the balcony was successful, your wild strawberries will present an enchanting white blossom in May. In order for the growth process to result in the longed-for harvest of sugar-sweet fruits, the following aspects of care are important:

  • Water regularly, allowing the substrate to dry out
  • fertilize with compost or liquid fertilizer before flowering
  • the first flowers to break out after planting to increase crop yield
  • mulch with straw or bark mulch from the start of fruit formation

If you have done everything right, you can harvest countless small red strawberries with a wonderful aroma all summer long until the first frost. Keep in mind that wild strawberries do not ripen afterward either. Only pick fruit that is fully colored. Specimens with a green and white border are not harvested.

How to prepare wild strawberries for winter

Wild strawberries are hardy and can therefore be cultivated perennial without any problems. To ensure that the plants thrive just as diligently in the next season, they receive another care run after the harvest. Before the buds for the following year are created in autumn, cut back the plants. The heart bud is not affected by this measure.

After the pruning, wild strawberries receive another fertilization with compost or an alternative organic or mineral preparation. Winter protection is not required in the bed. The specimens in the planter are placed on a block of wood in front of the house wall. Covered with bubble wrap or garden fleece, the root area is protected from freezing.

tips and tricks

The wild strawberry diligently spreads a multitude of runners. If you curb this urge to spread by cutting back, the delicate leaves are far too good to be disposed of in the compost. Brewed with boiling water, they make an invigorating and at the same time highly aromatic tea.

Category:

Vegetable garden