Strawberries in pots crop well if you never let them dry out

Strawberries are one of the best fruits for pots. They’re small, shallow-rooted and productive, and growing them off the ground keeps the berries clean and away from slugs. The one thing they won’t forgive in a pot is drying out, which ruins a crop faster than anything else.

Plant in early spring, in the six weeks or so before your last frost, or in late summer, about six to twelve weeks before your first autumn frost. Late summer plants have time to settle in and give a full crop the next year.

Which strawberries to grow

• Summer-fruiting strawberries give one big crop over two or three weeks in early summer. Choose these if you want a lot at once, for jam or a party.
• Perpetual or everbearing strawberries crop in smaller flushes from early summer to autumn. They’re usually the better choice for pots, where you want a few berries every week rather than a glut.
• Alpine strawberries are small, intensely flavoured and happy in part shade, though the crop is modest.

Buy healthy plants from a garden centre or nursery, as bare-root runners or small potted plants.

Pots and compost

Almost any container works as long as it drains well: pots, troughs, window boxes, hanging baskets, growing bags or tiered strawberry planters.

Container	Plants
15 cm (6 in) pot	1
30 cm (12 in) pot	3
1 m (3 ft) trough or window box	4 to 6
Growing bag	3 or 4
Hanging basket	3

Use multi-purpose compost, or mix in a little loam-based compost for weight and moisture.

Planting

1. Fill the pot to just below the rim and water it.
2. Set each plant so the crown, where the leaves join the roots, sits exactly at the surface. Buried crowns rot; crowns perched too high dry out.
3. Firm the compost around the roots and water again.
4. Put the pot somewhere sunny. Strawberries need at least six hours of sun a day to fruit well.

Watering and feeding

Water whenever the top of the compost feels dry, which in summer means every day and sometimes twice a day for hanging baskets. Water the compost, not the leaves and fruit, which rot in damp.

Once flowers appear, feed every week or two with a high-potash liquid feed such as tomato food. It improves both flowering and flavour.

Strawberries grow well alongside borage, lettuce, spinach, onions and chives, so a mixed pot or trough works fine. Keep them away from cabbage and other brassicas.

Picking

Strawberries ripen around five to twelve weeks after your last spring frost for summer-fruiting types. Everbearers carry on through summer into autumn. Pick berries when they’re fully coloured, ideally in the warm part of the day, with the green cap still on.

Birds love them too. A net over the pot, held off the fruit with canes, keeps them off.

Runners and winter care

Plants send out runners, long stems with baby plants on the end. Cut them off during the season so the parent puts its energy into fruit. In late summer, let a few root into small pots of compost to replace older plants.

Strawberry plants are hardy to about -15 °C (5 °F) in the ground, but roots in a pot are much more exposed to cold. In places with hard winters, move pots against a sheltered wall, wrap them in hessian or bubble wrap, or sink them into the ground until spring.

Common problems

Small, few berries. Usually dry compost or too little sun. Water more and move the pot.

Grey mould. Fuzzy grey rot on berries in damp weather. Pick off affected fruit and water at the base.

Slugs and woodlice. Less of a problem in pots, but still check the fruit. Raising pots on feet helps.

To plant strawberries in the ground, see our strawberry planting guide, or set your own frost dates on the strawberry page.