Strawberries

[user 14220]

Wife wants me to plant two garden beds with strawberries this spring. Are there any specific types that do better in TN? The area they will be planted in gets sun 80% of the day.

 

[OffHand85]

While I've been successful with most other common garden vegetables the strawberry has been my most difficult!
I have 3 galvanized metal barrels I'm growing strawberries in for my wife, we planted 6 plants in each. All star variety was recommended by Bartlett nursery I trust them and used their plants.
Same soil in each barrel, most of them died. A few did very well, so she buried the chutes that grew off each plant and by the end of the summer she had dozens of plants from the stronger ones in cups.
Replanted them in the fall, they prefer cooler temps.
The advice from Bartlett nursery was to let them turn purple with the colder weather then cover them in hay.
Now they're under a foot of snow! I'll update in a few weeks after the thaw!
she used a berry blend fertilizer mixed through the soil and sprinkled a cup per barrel every 30 days on top, covering in cypress mulch.

 

[MickThompson]

They are dang near invasive in my patch. I planted them in the ground. Biggest issue I've had is slug and snail damage. They'll eat the red off of them as they ripen and there's not much you can do if it's a really wet spring summer.

I chose a June-bearing variety (really May) so I could get all my picking done in a shorter time frame.

 

[OffHand85]

Yeah we harvested maybe 12 edible strawberries, the first year they aren't supposed to do much but establish roots, quite the tedious fruit.

 

[woodyard]

Chandler is the variety I have used for several years.

 

[Popcorn]

I have a preference for the Arkansas Beauty. Its likely the same or simular to the Tennessee Beauty that I can no longer find. This variety in the right conditions is the best of both commercial and non commercial berries.

 

[OffHand85]

They are dang near invasive in my patch. I planted them in the ground. Biggest issue I've had is slug and snail damage. They'll eat the red off of them as they ripen and there's not much you can do if it's a really wet spring summer.

I chose a June-bearing variety (really May) so I could get all my picking done in a shorter time frame.

Collect all the wood ash you can, dust everything well after it rains, should help with slugs and snails.