Would you want to know if strawberry plants choke out other plants? If well-maintained strawberries don’t harm other plants, yes, in my experience.
However, runners spread strawberries and may take over your garden if they need to be addressed.
These berries are sweeter and juicier than winter and early spring strawberries, which are bland and harvested too soon.
The Old Farmer’s Almanac has recommended companion planting for over a century to improve these berries’ quality and taste.
Companion planting mimics nature by developing plant partnerships that support each other.
Strawberries and onions are surprising partners.
Specifically spring or green onions. Spring onions have a robust taste, bite, and fresh aroma. All onions contain antibiotic, antiseptic, and antimicrobial properties that fight illnesses.
However, as you continue, I will explain more.
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Now, let’s get started.
Are There Any Crops To Avoid Planted With Strawberries
Strawberries should be planted with only a few other kinds of different crops.
Cauliflower, cabbages, broccoli, fennel, potatoes, melons, peppers, and mint are the products that fall within this category.
Plants of the brassica family, such as cauliflower, cabbage, and broccoli, would rival the strawberry plants regarding their ability to get nutrients.
Plants belonging to the nightshade family, such as tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, or aubergine, can transmit fungal disease to strawberry plants for various reasons.
Once more, another neighborhood that is not good for strawberries.
Fungi responsible for Verticillium wilt can be introduced into the environment by cultivating common vegetable crops such as tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants, melons, and plants belonging to the rose family.
Strawberries are susceptible to being consumed by some nematodes, which can be found in potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and red clover.
What Cannot Be Planted Next To Strawberries?
It’s possible that plants like tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, melons, peppers, roses, mint, and okra are to blame for this fatal illness that affects strawberry plants.
It is important to remember that beds recently hosted plants on this list should not be utilized to plant strawberries.
Furthermore, plants belonging to the cabbage family do not make good companions for strawberries.
They are not only unkind neighbors but also detrimental ones since they stunt the development of other cabbage family members.
Common cabbage groups include Collard greens, kale, cauliflower, kohlrabi, bok choy, and Brussels sprouts.
The more plants you know go well together, the more beautiful your garden will be!
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What Are The Best Strawberry Companion Plants
Try growing asparagus, beans, peas, spinach, lettuce, garlic, horseradish, and rhubarb; indeed, rhubarb is a vegetable.
All go nicely next to strawberries. Strawberries are also beneficial for onion companion planting, as their scent discourages many garden pests, including slugs and snails.
Grown adjacent to strawberries, legumes—beans and peas—fix nitrogen and nourish strawberry plants by improving the soil.
Asparagus and strawberries are good neighbors as their roots grow in separate directions, thus avoiding competition for resources or space.
But still, This is a substantial list of plants that will help you produce a sturdy bumper harvest of strawberries and somewhat guard your strawberry plants against pests.
Plant these garden companions next to strawberry plants to take advantage of the fantastic advantages of companion gardening.
Natural interplanting partners in the garden bed are strawberries and asparagus. They both rise from the ground shortly after the last frost; they extend their roots on different earth planes.
Without vying with one another, these two garden friends make good use of the soil and help to restore nutrients.
Bush beans help to resist garden beetles and other pests that eat strawberry plants. Growing beans also helps surrounding strawberries by releasing valuable nitrogen into the soil, increasing their fruit output.
What Is Best To Put Around Strawberry Plants
Place a layer of sawdust around your plants to ensure the produce remains clean and dry.
Mulching the soil surface is beneficial for preventing vegetation growth, retaining moisture, and preventing the fruit from rotting by keeping it off humid ground.
This ensures that the fruit remains clean and dry.
Strawberries’ crowns may be damaged or destroyed by temperatures below 12°F if left unprotected during the winter.
- Mulch should be applied after the soil temperature has been 40°F or lower for three consecutive days, as this is the point at which the plants enter dormancy. This transpires in Minnesota between November and December.
- Delay the application of mulch until the plants are dormant.
- Spread straw at a rate of 2.5 to 3.0 tons per acre, ensuring the plants are covered by 2 to 3 inches.
- While minimal operations can manually apply straw, most farms are sufficiently large to require a mechanical mulcher that grinds (“fluffs”) and blows the straw over the rows.
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Can You Plant Onions Next To Strawberries?
Marigolds are a preferred choice for natural insect control among home cultivators and are one of the most effective companion plants for strawberries.
Marigolds’ cheerful orange and yellow blossoms effectively repel many common pests, such as rabbits and deer, and insects, such as thrips.
Planting these two together does not result in any negative consequences.
Both necessitate soil that is well-drained and receives ample sunlight. In the early spring, both companion plants may be planted in conjunction.
The scallions can be planted in the compacted soil between the strawberry mounds or grown in alternating layers. Additionally, onion plants may be positioned around the strawberry patch’s perimeter.
Greg Burris, proprietor of Burris Farm Market in Loxley and a local strawberry farmer, has cultivated fruit in Baldwin County since 1984.
“Strawberries remain as popular as ever.”They are classified as a cold-weather commodity.
My plants are procured from Canada and Nova Scotia and planted around October 25. They may be harvested until May, contingent upon the temperature.
The preferred companion plants for strawberries are not limited to onions.
Other beneficial companions include herbs like borage, sage, and garlic and blossoms like marigolds, which repel vermin with their potent floral fragrance.
Companion sowing is a beneficial method for promoting the growth of both plants and offers two delectable contributions to the spring dinner table.
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Final Thought
Now that we have established that strawberry plants do not choke out other plants, planting diverse produce is a beneficial approach to guarantee that your strawberries thrive.
Maintaining a high level of biodiversity in the bed diminishes the probability of disease or insect infestation.
Nevertheless, selecting companions who will bolster the strawberry plants is crucial.
At the same time, ensuring that the neighbors are not susceptible to the same pathogens is imperative, as this will promote an infestation.
After planting, interplant garlic cloves with strawberries, placing them four to six inches apart from each strawberry plant.
One alternative method of interplanting garlic is to put the cloves in a central row, spacing them three to four inches apart and planting them one to two inches deep.
Then, plant strawberries on either side of the row, five to six inches from the center.