3 points to grow strawberries on the balcony. Enjoy the flower and the fruit!

We can grow strawberries for a rather longer time and can enjoy both the flower and the fruit. Not much hard work is needed and they don’t bring insect so much (this is important, isn’t it?) , either. It’s perfect for balcony gardening!

Here are 3 points to grow strawberries on the balcony.

1. Get appropriate seedings for outside growing. Around Kanagawa, Hou-Ko-Wase （宝交早生）is one of good choices.

2. Pay attention to the sunlight! The height and the location are the keys.

3. Don’t forget to pollinate! If not, they will not bear fruits.

Get appropriate seedings for outside growing!

To grow strongly, the seeding is the most important. “Tochi-Otome (means a beauty in Tochi-gi)”, “Bemo-Hoppe (means red cheeks)”, you can find whole bunch of branded strawberries’ seedings in Japan at home centers and DIY stores, however many of them would originally be developed for indoor planting in a greenhouse. It is recommended to get suitable seedings for outside planting at local seeding shops or JA (Japan Agricultural Cooperatives) ‘s direct stores. Seeding stores in Kanagawa Kanagawa | Find your closest JA store

In Kanagawa, a familiar strawberry type for outside planting is Hou-Kou-Wase (宝交早生) that are normally sold around October. For planting, put 50% of potting mix and 50% of peat moss (gardening soil sold at gardening shops). The mixed soil become light, therefore the roots of strawberries grow well. Peat moss doesn’t include fertilizer, so add some according to the instruction. We use a 20 liter-planter for two seedings.

Pay attention to the sunlight!

After planting, watch out the sunlight. Strawberries love the sun. Place a garden shelf as high as possible on the balcony to get more sunlight, but please avoid risk for falling down. Please also avoid to put the planter on the outside unit for air conditioner.

The direction of sunlight changes drastically in each season. At my home, the west balcony is normally the most bright and warm, but in December and January, there is almost no direct sunlight. So we move the planter to the east balcony in December and move it back in February.

Don’t forget to pollinate!

Then after, once plum blossoms blooms in the neighborhood, sprinkle solid fertilizer one time, the flowers begin to bloom in around late March. Due to no butterfly nor bee on the balcony, we need to do cross-pollination to have fruits. With a thin brush, the fluffy part of the earpick, or small eye-shadow brush, we swipe the center of flowers once in every morning. Strawberry belongs to Rosaceae. The flowers are also so cute. 　

Then give fertilizer total two times; once when the flowers begin to bloom and another when strawberries are on. They start to turn red around mid-May. How is it? It is not so difficult isn’t it?

One plant can produce 20 to 50 strawberries. They may not look as good shape as they were sold at stores, but strawberries that we grow by ourselves would taste special!

At our home, we grow sweet potatoes in a big bag on the same balcony after finishing strawberry. The growing periods of both pass each other, it is just good for rotation. By early June when planting sweet potatoes, all of strawberries are harvested and been disposed. If strawberry’s plant was not sick, the used soil is recycled after exposing to the sun to dry and sieved. This recycle soil can also be used for sweet potatoes!