Growing strawberry seedlings from seeds

Strawberries are the queen of any garden bed, one of the most delicious and healthy berries. And what a variety of varieties there are, your eyes run wild and it’s impossible to stop at one or a couple of specific ones. But with the purchase of seedlings, things are not very smooth, since finding good quality ones is not so easy. It’s good when a summer resident has a permanent place where he buys good, proven seedlings. And if not, you don’t want to take risks, because you can run into an unscrupulous supplier and, as a result, lose both money and time. In this case, the best option would be to grow strawberries from seeds yourself. Growing strawberries from seeds is an excellent alternative to purchased seedlings and allows you to grow exactly the variety of your favorite berry that you are most passionate about. Many experienced gardeners have certain favorite varieties of strawberries, which they grow annually and collect seeds for the next sowing in order to be 100% sure that this particular berry will grow.

Harvesting strawberry seeds is, in fact, not at all difficult. It is necessary to take a couple of good and largest berries of the desired variety, dry the top layer of pulp, then collect the seeds and clean them from the remaining pulp and pour them into a paper bag on which the name of the variety and the time of collection are written. If the seeds are collected correctly, they retain the possibility of full germination for 3-4 years.

Growing seedlings from harvested seeds will also not take much effort.We plant seeds in January-February, for this it is necessary to pour a 10-15 cm layer of soil into specially prepared boxes, compact the soil a little and make small grooves - 5 cm deep; We water and accordingly proceed to planting the seeds themselves. Next, you need to sprinkle our seeds with soil (literally 1 cm) and water again. It is worth remembering that the soil should always be kept moist! After 20-25 days, we observe the first shoots, after which it is necessary to place the boxes in a well-lit place.

After the first leaves have appeared, the seedlings must be transplanted into pots or boxes at a distance of 3 cm from each other. At the end of May, the plant can be safely transplanted into open ground, subsequently feeding it with fertilizers and thoroughly watering it.