Little Learning Hands - Planting Bare Root Strawberries 🍓 - My Garden Journal

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Earlier this month the whole family got outside to plant some bare root strawberries.

I was reading about the best kind to plant and decided to go with the ever-bearing ones. They continue to produce strawberries throughout the Summer and even into the fall. Also they are easier to manage because they have fewer runners.

With this being our first gardening year I want to do things as simple as possible while we’re learning. I don’t want things to get too overwhelming for us where we are tempted to give up.

Believe me I would 😐🤭


I grew up with gardening parents so I know how challenging things could get.

I brought these home from a gardening center and of course they were so dry in thirst of water.

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I soaked them in a bucket of water for an hour to hydrate them, getting some water in their roots before placing them in the ground.

I’ll admit it was intimidating handling all of the fragile roots, they are so long and it was so many of them. I handled them as carefully and gently as I could.

Here they are all soaked and quenched of thirst.

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We were reading that we shouldn’t plant the roots too close together because they spread so well. So we inched them apart as much as we could while staying in the area we wanted them to be placed in.

I don’t know what we were thinking but it would have been easier to plant them while the soil was moist. Just a week earlier I had put out compost to get the soil ready but it was so dry.

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We proceeded anyway and just watered the area really well when we were finished. We planted them in three different areas around our home. I just hope we spread them out enough where they won’t choke each other.

My husband planted the first one...

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and then I followed suit.

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We made sure to plant them with the crown at ground level. They won’t grow properly if the crown is below the ground.

I am hoping we reap plenty of strawberries. I really want to make some homemade jam. 😋

Afterward my husband and I planted the first ones it was our kiddos’ turn. We showed them how to handle the roots gently and with care. Their job was to hold the crown as we placed the soil around it.

Little Learning Hands

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It was so hilarious when it was my two year olds turn. Her hand is the one in the cover photo. She was the most into this and wanted to keep planting. However, when she grabbed a root she wouldn’t hold it up like we asked her to.

She grew impatient and just threw the root in the hole we dug and said

here ya go!

She was so proud of herself for “planting” the root by tossing it into the ready hole. 🤣

We kept talking with her and trying to explain it wasn’t the right way but she insisted on her way of planting. Oh that lil’ stinker tickles me. 😅

Question: - Someone suggested to us to water the strawberries with sugar water so they will be sweet once fully grown. Have any of you done this before? Is it safe (meaning will it invite unwanted pests)? I’d love your feedback on this.


I have been studying what strawberry leaves look like so I won’t accidentally pick them thinking they are weeds. I’m not sure if weeds would even come up in the same area. The strawberry leaves should hopefully start showing themselves by early Summer (which is next month).

This whole gardening experience has been such a great extension of our homeschool studies. The kids are learning so much and are enjoying being outside watching everything grow.

Sometimes they find things before I do because they are also keeping watch over what we’re sowing. 😊

I’ll leave you with a couple of photos of some wild flowers we found growing around our other plants. They are actually really pretty.

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All photos are my own and were taken with our Cannon EOS Rebel T6.


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15 comments
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I never watered my strawberries with sugar water, never heard of the suggestion either! Just regular water here, but home-grown strawberries taste great even like that. I'm not sure if it would have any effect to be honest, but I would be scared to attract ants and such!

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Thanks for the feedback on that. I am afraid of it attracting ants and other unwanted crawlers too. 😬

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I hope you will have a great harvest of strawberries soon :)
The first time I've heard of planting the strawberries with sugar water, I maybe try that. This is how our strawberries look like 😆😍

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Thank you so much! I am hoping we do as well. 😊

Oh nice! 😃 These photos get me even more excited! Your strawberries look great!! I’m so glad their leaves are distinctive because it helps me not accidentally pick them thinking they’re weeds. Thanks so much for sharing this, it’s really motivating ~ 😍

Yes, I was tempted to try the sugar water but afraid it will attract unwanted crawlers. Yikes!!

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How exciting! I'm aboutto mulch mine - I never get strawberries due to bugs, magpies and chickens, but doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying...

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Yes it’s so much fun and excitement!!

Good for you for not giving up!!!!

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Hello @crosheille,

Nice to greet you and hope you are recovering from the pains in your hands, how are you feeling?

I am amazed to see that you have the opportunity to grow strawberries, I love that you are doing it as a family. I grew up in that environment, my dad had a farm and we helped him, it is really an experience that I want to repeat, I want to plant the species that I use in the kitchen.

Regarding your question, intuitively, I think that watering with sugar water will not make the strawberries sweeter, I think it goes in the species and how much you water it, in the fertilizer.

Thanks for sharing your gardening experience and have a good crop for you to make jam.

Regards

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Hello @jicrochet! Thanks so much for checking on me. They are feeling a little better (I stopped crocheting for now to allow them to rest). I’m looking forward to my ultrasound coming up on June 2nd.

Thank you! It is so much fun doing it as a family. Seeing how excited and amazed my kiddos get really gets me more into it. 😊

Thanks for your feedback on my sugar water question. So maybe we just have to rely on their own natural sweetness.

When you get a chance please check the dm I left you on discord, thanks so much ~ ❤️

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May your plants grow very fast and the fruit be very sweet....

Thanks for the message in the discord. I have replied to you.

Regards.

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Thank you so much! We’re sure hoping so! 😊

Thanks so much for the reply ~

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In answer to your sugar water question, this is a mini on plant biology:

When a plant reaches a certain stage in it's growth, and is pretty healthy, it will start exuding sap out the roots. This sap feeds the biology in the soil. In the feeding process the biology takes up minerals in the soil. Often these minerals are not bio-available to plant roots. The biology chelates the minerals and when it dies, it releases the chelated minerals and the roots can take them up. That's why it's so important to NOT kill the biology by tilling the soil below 2" - 3" deep.

In the spring, before the soil warms above 60F, one can add sugar or dried molasses to the amendment mix to provide food for the biology before the plants reach the stage when they exude sap. Doing so later or repeatedly might cause more problems than it solves.

So that's how the system works, and so, yes and no, to your question. It's best to have the minerals the plant needs by doing a comprehensive soil test and adding exactly what that soil needs, rather than saying oh, perhaps lime, or wood ash, etc. If what the soil needs is in balance, the biology alive, you will get really sweet and flavorful strawberries, or any other vegetable or fruit.

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Oh wow this was so much useful and educational info. I’ll have to read this several times to make sure I pick up everything.

Thank you so much for this. Looks like I need to educate myself more about the soil and what my plants are needing.

Thank you thank you!! 🤗

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Love time in the garden as a family! What a great #gardenjournal entry @crosheille! Strawberries are a firm favourite here too!

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It’s such a joy! 😊

Thank you so much sweet friend. Yes, we can never have enough of them. 😋

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