Growing Strawberries Year Round: An AeroGarden Guide

Spring is the season many eagerly await, as it marks the end of a long, cold winter and the start of warm weather and sunny days. Many look forward to green grass, flowers, outdoor activities, and, the most exciting of all, strawberry season.

We’re going to let you in on a little secret. There is no need to wait for springtime farmers’ markets or in-season growth to enjoy juicy, red strawberries. You can grow these versatile berries all year round with an AeroGarden indoor garden! Whether enjoyed on their own, in smoothies or salads, or as a topping on desserts, you can have an endless supply of berries available right in your home.

Strawberries typically require perfect placement in an outdoor garden or box, requiring at least 8 hours of direct sunlight. Your AeroGarden hydroponics growing system will come with everything you need to grow strawberries quickly and easily, including LED grow lights to mimic the sun and liquid plant food nutrients to encourage fast, healthy growth.

Before you begin your indoor gardening journey, it is important to know which AeroGardens are best suited for growing strawberries. The Harvest XL, Bounty, or Farm model AeroGardens will be your go-to. These gardens are larger in size, making them perfect for growing tall, heavy-fruited plants. They also include a trellis system to provide extra support the fruit need.

The smartest way to grow strawberries is to start with small live plants that are mature enough to have little white strawberry flowers and a strawberry “crown.” The crown is a short, thickened stem that grows at the upper end of the strawberry plant; this is where roots form. You might be wondering why it is best to start with a mature, crowning plant instead of seedlings. The answer is simple: strawberry seeds are hard to germinate. Growing from crowns that already have root systems is a much easier and quicker way to produce.

When selecting strawberries to grow, we suggest choosing an everbearing type rather than a June-bearing strawberry. June-bearing strawberries require environmental triggers, like shorter days or low temperatures to flower. Everbearing strawberries continually flower and do not require special growing conditions to flower.

Not sure where to find mature strawberry plants? Check out your local nursery or Bonnie Plants! It is also important to purchase the Grow Anything Seed Pod Kit so you can successfully grow the live strawberry plant in your AeroGarden. This kit includes empty grow pods, plastic pod baskets and stick-on pod labels for creating your own complete seed pod.

Once you have your AeroGarden system, live strawberry plants, and the Grow Anything Seed Pod Kit, it is time to place everything in your AeroGarden!

• Rinse off the dirt from the strawberry roots with room temperature water.
• If the roots are small, use scissors to cut a wet grow sponge down half of its length (more if the roots are long), then gently insert the roots into the grow sponge. If the root mass is too big to insert into the grow sponge, just insert the roots directly into the plastic grow basket. Note: the crown of the plant should be above the top of the grow sponge.
• Insert the grow sponge through the grow basket, then insert the grow basket into the grow deck of the AeroGarden.
• After you have planted all of your strawberry crowns, add liquid plant food into the AeroGarden bowl and reset the nutrient timer. You should see new growth on your strawberry plants in 7-10 days.
• When your nutrient timer comes on in two weeks, add nutrients as instructed and reset the timer.

What’s next? Tending and harvesting your indoor strawberry garden!

A little bit of care for your strawberries will ensure rapid growth and bountiful harvests. As your plants grow, you will start to see flowers, and before long, you will be harvesting your first crop of ripe, luscious strawberries.

Yum!

• Keep the AeroGarden’s water reservoir full. This is easy thanks to the AeroGarden’s automatic water reminders.
• Raise the grow lights as the plants grow. Keep them around 2 to 4 inches above the top of the plants.
• Prune your strawberry plants. As your strawberry plants grow, older leaves will start to brown and die. This is perfectly normal. Remove these dead leaves by cutting them at the base of the stem. It is important to keep dead leaves off of your grow surface; this will help prevent bugs.
• Pollinate strawberry flowers manually. Check out our new video featuring our Be the Bee Pollinator and two other methods of pollinating!
• Harvest your strawberries, then rinse and refill the AeroGarden bowl at least monthly. This is very important for best growth and fruiting.

Now that you are a superstar strawberry grower, let’s make something of it!

Enjoy some of our favorite strawberry recipes below:

• Strawberry Lemonade
• Chocolate Strawberry Shortcakes
• Strawberry Pancakes