Grow strawberries to eat fresh with cream or put in your strawberry shortcake

The traditional way to raise strawberries is to root runners, but if you do not have a stock of plants to propagate, and the price of new strawberry plants put you off growing them.Why not raise your own from seed?

Great varieties of strawberries are available as seeds at a fraction of the cost of plants.If you sow them in early spring you should get fruits the same year.

Early sowing is essential for the best crop in the same year, but remember that strawberries are pereninials so they will flower and fruit for several years.Sow any time between March and the end of April in a heated propogator in your greenhouse or on a windowsill.Setting the temperture at 18-21C (65-70F)  for the best germination.

Strawberry seeds are very small so take care when tipping them out into your hand.Dampen your finger to pick up a few seeds at a time and sow on the compost surface.

Pot up seedlings into 7.5 cm (3in) pots, keep them in a greenhouse or cold frame and feed weekly as they develop.Once plants are looking sturdy with a good rootball, plant them outside in an open sunny position.Growing Strawberries in large pots seem to help deter slugs.

If your new to growing strawberries why not try a seed kit,Garden in a Bag: Alpine Strawberry. Take a visit to the  full collection of seed kits available.

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