Strawberry plants

Not sure I can hold out for June. I have an Aerogarden; is there any nursery that will sell me strawberry plants this time of year?

Yours in chow,
Molly

I would say that's a long shot. You could order seeds via the web and try to plant them but in my experience, strawberries take some time to mature and fruit. I grew them last year on my roof but one year just wasn't enough. I would bet that they would've been better this year but I didn't winter them.

Good luck and keep us posted.

google around for a nursery out in California or in Florida.

try this searchable database:

http://davesgarden.com/products/ps/

The problem is transit and delivery. Most places won't ship during these cold months - just being on the delivery vehicle or moving between the vehicle and your home could kill them!

leek wrote:The problem is transit and delivery. Most places won't ship during these cold months - just being on the delivery vehicle or moving between the vehicle and your home could kill them!

well, you'd have to make sure they were dormant and get them fed-exed. problem is no one is going to deal with the trouble. growing strawberries is a PITA anyway. try potatoes instead.

The fill-in/ground cover for my front yard garden is strawberries, dozens of plants that have spread from just two or three that I bought from the local farmer's market a few years ago. The rabbits take some, but we still get quite a few all summer and fall.

Not sure I can hold out for June. I have an Aerogarden; is there any nursery that will sell me strawberry plants this time of year?

Fleurdesel: this is a little off-topic from your initial question, but I was curious about using the Aerogarden with seeds or plants other than the pods they sell. How does that work?

I'm asking because I'd been considering getting an Aerogarden (I have no outdoor space whatsoever) but was turned off that I'd have to use their seed kits. Thanks!

Hi. I've only used the AeroGarden's kits. I'd done some initial research on growing strawberry plants in the Aerogarden, and the company sells a kit for it, so it seems feasible.

I have grown herbs and salad greens, and I've generally been very pleased with my harvests. Cilantro didn't sprout, so the company sent me dill instead.
It arrived quickly and took off readily.

Purchased the below on impulse today.



I've never had much luck with strawberry plants, either in the ground or in containers, but hey, maybe this will be my year. It appears to be an extremely healthy plant. Tag claimed it would produce all summer long and I could be harvesting berries every 3-4 days. We'll see.... I really admire/envy the gardens of many of you who post here. Unfortunately, my thumb is more pale seafoam green than vibrant grass green.

fleurdesel, did you wind up getting any strawberry plants?

That's quite a lovely plant! I'd love to pick up something like that for the Customary Dining Companion, who would really like to take a crack at growing berries in a container. He's out of the country right now, but I'd love to surprise him with this, along with the tomatoes and romaine seedlings I've been baby-sitting for him - may I ask where you found it, and also, if I may be so nosy, what it cost?

Thanks in advance! CDC would be tickled pink to get this as a welcome home gift, no doubt.

That sure is lovely! I have forsaken strawberries so far, but that is awfully tempting.

(Geez, Mr Views is going to shoot me if I add another plant....then again, no he won't. If he does he won't get all the lovely produce because he doesn't have a clue as to what to do. OK, I'm safe. Where did you get it???)

I found it at the Farmer's Market Garden Center at 4110 North Elston Ave. We lived in Andersonville for many years and always bought our balcony flowers and Christmas tree at Gethsemane (5739 N Clark.) I love Gethsemane for their quaility and variety, but it is always a zoo and I've found their prices to be fairly high. When we moved to North Mayfair we started patronizing "Farmer's Market." They are not as big as Gethsemane, but I've found the quality to be as high, if you really dig around you can find some unique stuff, and the prices are a bit lower. I paid $16.99 for the strawberry plant hanging basket. However, it was the only one I saw. Doesn't mean they don't have more somewhere, just ask if you go - they're pretty helpful.

LynnB -

I was at one of my favorite smaller garden centers, Hibbard Road Gardens in Winnetka, to pick up some suddenly-needed tomato cages for my new summer guests, when I saw a big fat hanging pot of strawberry plants. The very nice woman with whom I worked even went in back to the flooded greehouse, unasked, and found an even nicer one - and the kicker was that all of their hanging baskets are on sale for 25% off the original price! Thirteen bucks and change will make my Customary Dining Companion/Strawberry Lover a very happy man on Sunday - plus she advised me to clip the runners and plant them in my perennial/veg/herb garden, since I have no rabbit problems. This place is a hidden gem, and the people who work there are uniformly lovely - they've been in business since 1927 (!), so they must know what they're doing. Highly recommended.

Hibbard Road Gardens
Corner of Hibbard and Winnetka (Hill) Roads, Winnetka
847-446-5525

Sundevilpeg -

I'm so glad you found one and hope that it was it hit with your CDC today! I haven't managed to kill mine yet and have reaped a few tasty berries. Planting the runners is a good idea - I may give that a try.

Taken today:

LynnB -

Thanks for the good wishes! He's tickled pink about his new baby, and the both of us are even more tickled about the seven new plants that I'm now attempting to start from the runners. I'll keep you (and everyone, I guess!) posted as to what happens; if all seven root, I'll be taking four to edge into my public bee/butterfly garden, which will now include fruit (the berries and chiles of seven varieties), veggies (potatoes and fennel), perennial flowers, annual flowers, and herbs a-plenty of all kinds. I might just move out there.

Speaking of happy-happy insects, I found my first firefly out there yesterday, just resting in the shade of a leaf during the heat of the day on a Thai chile plant. Made me very happy, indeed.