April 2, 2010

How to grow alpine strawberries from seeds

January last year, I was squeezing white envelope in my hand. On the poststamp there was a bicycle and written "Holland" - I closed my eyes and said to myself "the most unusual strawberries of all strawberries have just arrived"....

Strawberries fans get ready – you also would love to harvest all season, I guess. If you want strawberries all season round, go for alpine strawberries – little plants bearing white to yellowish fruits all season, very fragrant and very tasty, evergreen, producing no runners, liking semi shade (4 hours of sun daily is enough). All this sounds promising – right? I planted my grown from seeds alpine strawberries in humus rich compost. 



I got seeds last year from Patrick/Bifurcated Carrot. Alpine strawberries have the fame of germinating terribly, but they are really germinating great, if you place your seeds in the fridge for 1 month, just before sowing.
Help the seeds to germinate and don’t cover it with soil, just let it stay on the surface, keep the soil and air damp. For easy home-made propagator, that suits its job great with no cost, I recycled plastic boxes – see the picture. Easy to open and close, easy to ventilate - ->> easy to germinate any seeds.


I sow the seeds in February previous year - in June they were big enough to replant them in separate pots. Some of them flowered and had few fruits. This spring is time to plant them in their containers – big, old wooden barrels. Last year, as I used to be the ornamental gardener, I would plant petunias or surfinias there, but this year I am drifting more and more into veggie gardening, the barrels have different guests. Strawberries will be growing on such a level, that it will be easy to pick the fruits and eat directly from the plant…


Promising….

Do you grow alpine strawberries? What are your tips?

***************************
If you would like to improve your garden to a beautiful paradise, let me help you to design it. We can work online. Contact me at ewamariasz [at] gmail [dot] com.

Happy Gardening!

Xoxo,
Ewa

9 comments:

Alexandra said...

I planted alpine strawberries from seed last year (with seeds from JL Hudson). VERY slow to start and very tiny plants last year, but this year they're gorgeous. Now if I can just keep the evil furfaces from eating the fruit...

karen said...

This will be my first step back into gardening in years. So excited! Putting in raised beds. Strawberries have been top of my list but I have so much to learn. This is possibly my favorite berry. Have Quinault roots to plant, but don't expect fruit until next year.

Thanks for the Twitter follow. Look forward to visiting your wonderful blog more often!

karen

Patrick said...

Xan: You can probably solve the problem of animals eating the fruit by growing white ones, like what Ewa has. Most animals, including birds, can't see the white fruits.

Ewa: If you now need more plants, you can now break up the larger plants into about 10-20 pieces and plant them. Just gently divide the roots. You should only do this in the spring.

Ewa in the Garden said...

Hello Xan - nice to see you here and its a great news, you also grow alpines :)

Hello Karen, I hope to see your garden endavours soon on your blog.


Patrick,
I just planted 6 of them now, next over 10 is waiting for me to prepare the space for them. Next barrel will get ready :)
Thanks for dividing and timing tips.

Ewa in the Garden said...

Patrick, do we know what kind of alpine strawberry we are growing? Any name on your mind?

Kylee Baumle said...

Hi Ewa! Oh, these strawberries look wonderful! I've got some ornamental strawberries, 'Lipstick' and 'Pink Panda,' but they do put out runners. Still, the strawberries taste just like the wild ones I used to pick as a child. You can't find those much anymore, for some reason, so I like eating these. I need to find some that don't run, though!

Patrick said...

Hi Ewa,

It's just called White Alpine Strawberry.

nanci said...

I have grown the white and red Alpines for years (but I cheated and bought plants!). The little plants have lived for years, and once in a while one does throw out a runner, which is a bonus! Hope you enjoy them!

Lisa said...

We just bought a house, and are trying to discourage the slugs in our garden. Until we reach an understanding with the slugs, I'm unwilling to plant any strawberries!

KEEP READING - MORE GREAT STUFF IN OLDER POSTS