Strawberries have to be one of my favourite things to plant in the garden. They’re surpisingly easy, expand on their own, and taste delicious. You can never have too many strawberries! While strawberries grow happily throughout the warm summer months, they don’t really like the cold too much. Don’t worry, they can survive winter just fine if you give them a little help!
Move the Pots
If you’re one of those people who love to put strawberries into a pot and have the vines run all over the place, you’ll need to bring those pots in, or insulate them. Wrap with a frost blanket, or cover with straw/leaves. If your pot is large and there is plenty of soil for the strawberries to keep warm, you should be okay! If your pot is made of terra cotta, bring that bad boy in! Terra cott will break in very cold temperatures.
Insulate
Strawberries do well when you surround them with straw. Every year, I buy bales to make some adorable fall decor and to keep the septic tank nice and warm throughout the cold, blustery months. I use some of that straw to tuck my strawberries in.
Surround your strawberries with straw and leave it all year. They’ll grow happily and it will add a little more protection for the times when the weather turns a little colder a little faster than anticipated.
Check your local kijiji for any farmers selling small bales you can purchase and tuck your strawberries in. You can also find some at greenhouses, and if you’re made of all kinds of money and don’t have many strawberries you can find very tiny bales at Michael’s.
Cover Up
You can cover up your strawberries any way that works for you. A frost blanket thrown over them for the winter months to keep them nice and snuggly. A pile of leaves, raked up around and over the strawberries. Straw piled up around and on top of the plants. Don’t do this when the weather is still warm as your plants will overheat and not have a good time. Once the temperatures start to drop, and stay dropping, it’s time to cover up your plants and say goodbye until next season. I’ve used the leaf method when I lived on a street covered with old trees, and I now use the straw method to keep my babies warm.
