Strawberrys for a Newbie

Use garden soil, not potting soil. Buy plants, not seeds. You should get a few berries this year, and lots next year. There are several types. I like everbearers.

I prefer to go to a u-pick strawberry farm to pick. It is less work and more fun. My kids enjoy picking, and many of the farms have petting farms and hay rides. I pick several pails and freeze them to last all winter.

Plants. I find starting from seed is time-consuming and iffy unless you have a good greenhouse type window. Mine put out a lot of runners for years until the trees grew so much that the shade reduced production. They should come back - at least the ones in the garden do. You need to protect them from birds - get some berry netting at the garden center. You'll want to keep the berries themselves off the wet soil but of course with boxes or strawberry jars you need to protect from drying out too. It's hard to get a lot of berries in a small space but if you're just looking for the fun of it, go for it. The season isn't terribly long so I don't know what you'll get this year. Talk to your local garden center - maybe there's something else you should grow this year?

I have about 15 plants in boxes on my deck. I just bought them last week. The plants should have strawberries and lots of flowers on them.

You can buy some varieties that don't have the runners. What I tend to do is just place other boxes or planters nearby, and then I direct runners into them.

Some of mine returns from last year but a frost last month killed them. They should come back as long as you're careful with frost in May.

I've grown strawberries in the ground in a 3'x 4:" space using plants, not seeds. I started this late in the season and did get a few berries. The next year I again only got a few berries. 8t was fun to walk out the door and eat a couple of berries. My plants received full morning sun.

I live in an area that has strawberry fields. They all receive a full day of sun.

I decided that to get a serving size of berries, I'd need many more plants or need to find a variety that produced much more berries. I've seen pictures of clay strawberry pots with many openings in which to plant strawberry plants. I've not seen seeds. They look like a fun way to grow strawberries.

I suggest you go to a nursery to get information.

I have grown them from seeds, but they only give fruit once or twice and then you need to replant. There is a way to get a new plant from the old one but I haven't tried it.

I'm in Florida and can usually grow stuff all year, but since you are in NY this is something you need to start in the spring.

you're a bit late for this year. my strawberry harvest has slowed to a few per day. damn, they're good!
starting them from seed is a lot of planning and work. i'd just buy the plants. they probably won't give you much the first year, but years 2 and 3 are awesome. if you have room to let them form 'daughters' you can keep it going. if not, plan to replace them after 3 years. in window boxes that's probably what you'll have to do. i think strawberry plants are uber pretty and happy to have them around even when they've finished producing for the year.
they do like sun, but handle partial shade quite happily.
khairete
S.

I've not grown them, but I have a few friends who do. I saw a neat setup where a piece of rain gutter was used for a suspended strawberry bed so that the plants grew over and the berries hung down for easy picking without bending down.