Evening star., 1962-01-21
Strawberries Do Well
In Many Gardens

they are tolerant; but it is
generally recommended that the
soil be only slightly acid so
that they will make the best
use Of the fertilizer.
The Matted Row"
The normal planting is in
rows a foot apart and the
plants spaced a foot apart in
the rows. Three or four rows
are given this spacing and
then a double spacing is left
for working so that it is un-
necessary to tramp on the beds.
With this system, usually called
the matted row" the runners
are not removed and it is not
long before the rows are lost
in a solid mass of plants.
Another system, one that is
bound to appeal to those who
like to keep everything neat
and orderly, is the "hill sys-
tenn" Here the plants like in
the matted row planting are
set a foot apart and heavily
mulched. All runners are re-
moved and so the individual
plants stand alone. Strangely,
with this system the yields are
as great or greater than with
the matted row system. The
major difference is that it takes
some attention throughout the
season to remove the runners,
but such beds usually last five
yeras or more while the matted
row system soon becomes fouled
with grass and must be re-
worked in three to five years.
Recommended Varieties
The strawberry varieties rec
commended for the Washington
area are those noted for quail
ity and adaptation to our soils
and climate. Earlidawn is a
very early one, whose flowers
are more or less resistant to
frost injury. A very important
consideration if they are to
produce each season. Midland
is a second early variety, of
good quality and yield. 1t does
not seem to suffer greatly from
frost injury. Fairfax is we'll
known in this area having stood
the competition of many new
varieties successfully. POca-
hontas is a comparatively new
variety in this area. and fol-
lows Fairfax in order of rip
ening, Tennessee Beauty is a
late variety, and Redstar is
probably a bit later depending
upon the season. These six va
rieties combine quality with
adaptation to our soils and eli
mate, and will provide a con-
tinuous harvest over several
weeks.
In selecting a site for the
strawberry bed avoid all places
where tomatoes or potatoes
have been grown in recent g.
81 years. One of the troubles
local growers have been having
with strawberries was variously
called wilt" "summer-dying, :"
chlorosis, etc., has now been
determined to be "verticillium
wilt" 1t now becomes most i'm
portant to locate the bed on
land that has not been infected
by either tomatoes or potatoes.
However, in case of uncer-
tainity some strawberry vari-
cites have considerable resis-
tence or immunity to the ver-
ticillium wilt. OF those listed
above these have the most re-
sistance: Tennessee Beauty and
Fairfax. The two varieties rec
commended because of their re-
sistance to the red stele dis
ease, SurecrOp and Sparkle. are
also fairly resistant to verti-
cillium wilt. However, the i'm
portant step is to plant on
disease-free land because it is
something Of a major project
to disinfect the soil. Of course,
buying plants from a reputable
nursery is most important.
Gardeners seldom go to the
trouble to spray or dust their
beds although there is a leaf
spot disease, the spittle bug
may be a problem, in some sec
tions, and in the older Sec
tions slugs may become a nui-
Sance. However, these are not
serious and can easily be taken
care of.