Strawberries - YUM.

Our local Galey's farms have perfected the art of growing healthy strawberries.  However, they have masses of greenhouses and we at home don't.  Here's the scoop on growing your own awesome strawberries at home, as researched from the huge tomb called Reader's Digest Practical Guide to Gardening in Canada.

1. You can grow them in the ground or in containers.  If the soil is boggy in the winter, plant in raised beds.
2. If planting in soil, planting through black plastic will help warm the soil in spring, keep the berries clean and suppress weeds.  You can also use straw or something else to stop the berries from resting on the dirt.
3. Plant the new plants that form from runners in new ground every year, and discard any plants that are over 3 years old.  Use crop rotation so that disease and pest don't build up in the soil.  Giving the soil a 3 year rest is recommended in the book.  This is very important for any veggie or annual fruit crop.
4. Some runners can be cut out to reserve that energy in the plant for berry production.
5. Ideal soil is a bit acidic, well drained and minerally rich (some clay), with plenty of rotted organic matter.
6. Dig in plenty of organic mix fertilizer, and a bit of bone meal (unless you are concerned about mad cow disease transmitting from the bone meal to the food, in which case use rock phosphate).
7. They like warmth and sunshine.
8. Problematically, some varieties are alike to blueberries, in that they need another variety nearby to pollinate.  Some varieties are self pollinating.  You will have to check the label of the plants when you buy them or look it up if you know your variety.
9. Planting and transplanting is best done in late summer and early fall to give the plants time to reestablish.  If you plant them in spring, remove the first flowers to allow the plants to put their energy into root formation.
10. The base of the crown (the slightly woody part where the leaves and flower stems grow from) of the strawberry plant must be at soil level.  Don't bury the crown.
11. Pests like birds, racoons and deer can be discouraged by a fine netting.  The fine, black netting is almost invisible.
12. Water well as the plants are establishing, and regularly during the growing period, except for with black plastic.  Because the plastic prevents the water from evaporating, only water plants grown through plastic in very dry weather or else they'll rot.
13. Harvest eating berries when fully ripe.  Harvest jam berries just before fully ripe, probably so that they have a bit of pectin.
14. Finally, after harvesting it is time for the plants to renew by putting out runners and growing new leaves.  Since the old leaves will rot, remove them.  Also cut off excess runners, both to keep your garden from being over-run and to focus the plant's energy on just a few new plants.  Help the strawberries regrow with organic mix fertilizer and a good watering.