Planting strawberries (Fragaria x ananassa) at hanging baskets has many advantages over in-ground cultivation. Baskets take up less space, provide better air circulation and protect against soil-borne disorders. If deer or other animals nibble in your mailbox harvest, these containers can remove it from their hit. With mobile planters, you can move your strawberries from their summer heat or winter cold. Not every type of strawberry is suitable for baskets, however.
Day-Neutral Strawberries
Although June-bearing varieties would be the most popular homegrown strawberries, they don’t make decent container plants since they tend to send too many runners. The runners steal energy which could move into fruit production. Day-neutral strawberries, which bear smaller grasses and lack the sprawling habit, are ideal for growing in hanging baskets. Strawberries classified as June bearers create one crop each year in June or July. The other type, called everbearing, generates two flushes of fruit each year, the first in first summer and the second in early fall. Day-neutrals, however, are the actual “ever bearers,” since they create fruit almost continuously throughout the growing season. Outstanding day-neutral varieties comprise “Tristar,” “Tribute,” “Mara des Bois,” “Evie” and “Albion.” Also acceptable for hanging baskets would be the everbearing cultivars “Quinalt” and “Ogallala.”
Alpine Strawberries
Rarer than the strawberries typically grown in a house garden, alpine varieties are descendants of the wild strawberry (Fragaria spp.) , with horticultural improvements. “Mignonette,” “Rugen Improved” and “Yellow Wonder” (a yellow-fruited variety) tolerate small but sweet berries from spring through fall. Dense, compact plants, they perform well in hanging baskets and other vandalism. Although alpine strawberry crops are sometimes found in nurseries or on the internet, a broader variety is offered in seed form. Unlike other strawberries, the alpine type thrives in partial shade.
Choosing a Container
The planter has to be 12 to 15 inches from top to bottom, deep enough for strawberry roots. Coir- or peat moss-lined hanging baskets or self-watering baskets make effective containers for strawberries. Position seedlings nearer together than you would plant them at the ground. A basket measuring 12 inches in diameter must provide ample space for three to five crops. If you can, hang your berry harvest near spring-blooming flowers to attract bees. Strawberry flowers require help from pollinators to place fruit.
Growing Year-Round
Water your strawberries regularly, if their container doesn’t boast a reservoir. Consider putting water-absorbency crystals at the soil. To prolong blooming and fruiting, feed each week with a natural fertilizer high in potassium and low in nitrogen. Protect the plants by moving them into a basement or garage when summer heat is intense or even a thunderstorm, windstorm or frost threatens. Each spring, repot your hanging basket with fresh soil. This careful tending should reward you with strawberries which bear fruit for several years.