We started three types of strawberries tonight. Temptation, Tresca, and Alexandria.
They all said they can he started indoors 1-4 months before last frost, and we're two months out. They can also be direct sown. I started one packet of each and have another packet left of each. That comes out to 72 total cells, but most cells have multiple seeds in each.
72 plugs for about 45 feet of planting space will be pretty dense. I like that. In nature these things make a dense carpet, so plant spacing recommendations don't really bother me a whole lot. They'll be planted on the swale berms, so I'll be able to space them out pretty well by going in a zig zag on both sides of the berm too. I might actually start a few more in a tray like this. If the ones in the trays do well, I bet we'll be able to direct plant the seeds in convenient places like the woods and the sharing garden.
This will bring us up to five varieties of strawberries planted in our food forest. I'm really happy with that kind of biodiversity. It also feels good to be doing something on time for once. Ill be getting ready to do even more seed starting soon. I think I'm gonna like using these little egg cartons like this. Seems like it'll make things easy and save a few bucks over buying the dedicated plastic greenhouses at the store.
Be blessed.
Be fruitful.
Stay relevant.
Nate.
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Nice! I have never tried growing strawberries from seed.... going to have to give that a try one of these days.
I've never tried it either. Most things we're doing here are things we've never done before 😂
We plant grown plants in a 5 by 1 meter bed, in 5 rows, 25 plants in each row. So I don't think 75 is dense for your space! The thing is, you will want to thin the planting in 3-4 years by removing the old plants, the ones with woody stems. That will keep your plantation healthy!
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The packets say 12-18 inch spacing. That's .3-.5m! I thought it sounded somewhat ridiculous, so ignored it. The 40 that I planted over the weekend are spaced about 8 inches apart, so about as far apart as yours. I'm really hoping they'll establish well and take over. Strawberries are something my family eats a LOT of, so we're trying to plant accordingly.
Oh they will! When we moved out strawberries, a single shovel took 50 plants out of the ground!!! So thinning is important. But it's great that each year you can gift tons of plants to friends! Or just plant them in your local park, at a sunny spot, let them take over, mwahahaha! 😂
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I thought they were chocolates at first:)
Not yet, but maybe later they could be!