The garden strawberry is the iconic sweet, juicy red fruit. It is both cultivated and consumed on a global scale. Strawberries are enjoyed in their natural state, or processed into various prepared foods such as preserves, ice cream, pie, and chocolates. There are also many simulated versions of its instantly recognizable sweet flavor. Although its name is home to the word berry, it is not actually considered a berry by botanists. It is classified as an aggregate accessory fruit.

Are you going to plant strawberries in your garden? According to our research, we don’t recommend planting cabbage, eggplant, potato, tomato, and peppers near strawberries in the garden.

Strawberries are quite challenging to grow from seed, and require a little creativity. Many home gardeners will simply order plants of their chosen variety and transplant those into their gardens. For those who insist on growth from seed, the best place to start is indoors during the winter. To enjoy a harvest during your first season, be sure to sow your seeds between December and the beginning of February. There are a few tricks to encouraging germination, which mostly revolve around an airtight seal that usually takes around 3 weeks. Sow your seeds in small trays or containers and expose them to fluorescent light until you have 3 leaves from your seedling. These may be transplanted into pots. Once they’ve matured a bit more, you can transplant them outside about 36-48” apart. Strawberries grow best in high-drainage, slightly acidic soil that is rich in nutrients.

To harvest strawberries, get an early start while the berries are still cool from the night. Carefully remove the berries from their stems, as bruising comes easily, and will cause the fruit to rot prematurely. Although strawberries will spoil in only a few days, they can be safely frozen for later enjoyment.