Then it is better to plant strawberries in the fall 

A wonderful berry is a strawberry. Sweet, fragrant, besides it contains many vitamins and microelements that have a beneficial effect on our body weakened over the winter. Strawberries can be grown independently in a greenhouse or in open ground almost throughout Our Country, however, you will have to work hard on it.

The crops after which we plant the berry are of great importance. The correct selection of predecessors will allow the use of less fertilizer, give some protection against pests and diseases – even if it does not completely get rid of them, but it will greatly facilitate care. Today we will consider in detail the issue, after which you can plant strawberries in the fall.

Green manure on guard of the harvest

It is best to sow green manure in the spring in the place where strawberries will be planted in the fall.

They perform the following functions:

• Improve soil structure.
• Inhibit the growth of weeds.
• Green manure is the best way to enrich the earth with useful substances in a form that is easily absorbed by subsequent crops.
• They promote the development of beneficial microorganisms.
• Enrich the soil with humus.
• Many green manure, thanks to the substances they contain, cleanse the soil of pathogens, and also displace harmful insects.

It is best to plant rapeseed, lupine, oil radish, buckwheat, vetch, phacelia, oats or mustard before strawberries. During the season, green manure must be mowed several times, and it is not necessary to remove the green mass from the site. Leave them in the future strawberry garden, after a while they will become food for our helpers – earthworms and other beneficial organisms.

Decaying, green manure will turn into humus, enrich the soil with useful elements contained in them. For example, all legumes (lupine, vetch) enrich the beds with nitrogen, rapeseed and mustard are a source of phosphorus, and buckwheat is a source of potassium. To speed up the process, it is good to shed the soil several times with solutions of effective microorganisms.

Of course, green manure planted in spring will give the best result. It is even better to grow several types of useful plants in the future garden from spring to autumn planting of strawberries. In 30-40 days they will rise and grow. Some during this time it will even be possible to mow. Then the land is cultivated, dropping plant residues, then a new crop is planted.

But if there is no other way out, green manure can be sown in the south, for example, after harvesting potatoes in order to have time to mow the green mass a couple of times before planting strawberries. If you need to quickly improve the strawberry garden, you can dig up old bushes immediately after fruiting and plant with vetch, mustard or other fast-growing green manure.

Good predecessors

Unfortunately, it is not always possible to plant green manure before laying a strawberry garden. Often summer cottages or personal plots do not differ in large sizes. Prudent owners can’t plant all the crops that they would like to grow on their own due to lack of space. Leaving a piece of land “walking” for a season can be a real waste.

Let’s see after which crops strawberries can be planted.

• Legumes are good predecessors. If ordinary beans or beans may not ripen before the strawberry planting time in some regions, then asparagus beans and peas will not only have time to produce a crop, but also make room for green manure.

  

• Greens: dill, spinach, lettuce, too, will not stay long in the garden. It is good to plant garden strawberries after parsley or celery.
• Onions, garlic, too, will not interfere with the autumn planting of strawberries, in addition, they will clear the soil of some pests and diseases.

  

• You can harvest a good harvest of radishes, carrots, corn. And in the vacant place to break the strawberry beds.

If there is no time to sow green manure, and planting seedlings is planned shortly after harvesting, all plant residues must be carefully removed from the garden (except for legumes, their chopped stems can simply be dug). After that, the soil is carefully dug up, if necessary, enriched with humus and fertilizers. Two weeks later, when the ground settles, you can plant strawberries.

Bad predecessors

But not all garden crops can be the forerunners of garden strawberries. So, after which you should not plant strawberries?

• First of all, these are nightshade crops – potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants. They share common diseases and pests with strawberries.
• Raspberry. This berry shrub is difficult to uproot completely, often for several years you have to fight with shoots, which does not contribute to the normal development of a strawberry plantation. But this is half the trouble. Strawberry-raspberry weevil, as its name suggests, is an annoyance to both cultures, so it’s best not to plant them side by side.
• Jerusalem artichoke and sunflower (and they are close relatives) deplete the soil so much that it needs to be allowed to rest. Better yet, sow green manure in this place.

  

• She does not like strawberries if cabbage, cucumbers or zucchini grew in the garden in front of her.
• Flowers belonging to the ranunculus family are also not good precursors to strawberries. They are rich in active substances that depress the development of the plant.
• Often, especially on the Internet, you can read that strawberries are good to grow after fennel. This is not true. Fennel is an allelopathic crop. And he is not friends with any other plant. By planting strawberries after fennel, you risk not only not getting a harvest, but also ruining the seedlings.

  

Good neighbors

Useful neighbors can be “settled” on strawberry beds. Of course, we are not talking about carpet plantings, where the berry is a space completely braided with bushes.

• To save space in the garden, lettuce or spinach can be placed between staggered strawberries.
• Parsley planted in the same way protects against slugs.
• Onions, garlic disinfect the soil and protect strawberries from nematodes. In addition, with such a neighborhood, they give especially large heads.

  

• Low-growing marigolds planted between strawberry bushes will not shade the berry and scare away the nematode.

  

• If you grow strawberries in a row, you can intersperse rows of carrots, beets, radishes, radishes, herbs, onions, or garlic.
• The neighborhood of any representative of the legume family will also benefit the fragrant berry.

But neighbors are not only kind.

• Do not plant strawberries next to fennel. As we noted above, he has no friends.
• Joint planting of strawberries and horseradish is unacceptable.
• It is better not to plant garden strawberries (strawberries) and forest strawberries nearby.

Decorative varieties of remontant strawberries

Recently, the selection of remontant strawberries with very attractive red, raspberry or pink flowers has been especially intensive. It is called the garden strawberry of neutral daylight hours and is considered an ornamental plant that can grow in partial shade, despite its great taste. Such strawberries are eaten and used for decoration in flower beds, rockeries and hills. It is even planted in flowerpots, and sometimes in tree trunks as a cover plant. 

You need to know that strawberries will not feel good next to birch. But next to the following plants will grow great:

• pines and firs;
• ferns;
• spirea;
• irises.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, not every site can allocate a site for green manure for the season. But there are many crops that can be good precursors for strawberries. In addition, this berry can also be grown in joint plantings with herbs and vegetables. Just remember who is a friend for strawberries and who is an enemy. Have a good harvest.