It is extremely rare to meet a person who does not like strawberries. It is considered one of the most beloved garden crops in the world, its consumption in any form is a record among other berries.

Many people think that growing this crop on open beds is the only way to get a crop. Even living in your apartment and not having a hundred of your own land, you can grow a good crop, and you can collect it all year long.

The benefits of strawberries

These berries are able to quench thirst, improve digestion. They have a lot of positive effects on health, such as: regulation of metabolism, improved blood composition, lowering blood pressure, increased libido, as well as anti-sclerotic, diuretic, astringent effects.

The basic rules for growing strawberries all year round

If it is impossible to surprise anyone with strawberries in the summer, then its presence on the table in winter can cause real surprise. At the same time, the berry will be juicy, sweet and fragrant, but not imported, from the store, but from a grown house, personally.

Currently, anyone with the desire to do this can produce strawberries. And the presence of a greenhouse and special equipment for this is absolutely not necessary. The following set is necessary: ​​seedlings, soil, containers for seedlings, as well as patience, because the berry is rather capricious. But nothing is impossible.

Did you know? In some countries, green strawberries are pickled and rolled into jars, and then eaten as an alternative to pickled cucumbers.

However, a fair question arises: how to grow a thermophilic culture in the cold season? And the secret is very simple: if you dig bushes from the garden in the fall and place them in a cool room, or even in a refrigerator, they can be stored for many months. In the garden, the plant wakes up with the onset of heat, but at home it can be awakened at any desired time. Therefore, if you plant strawberry seedlings, pulling successively several bushes from the cold, you can get the crop all year continuously.

Another nuance when growing a plant at home is that it needs a long daylight, at least 14 hours. In the cold dark season, it will be necessary to use additional lighting, for example, fluorescent lamps or special phytolamps.

You will also need to pollinate the flowers yourself with a regular brush. To do this, daily should touch it with each flower. Another way of pollination can be this: in the morning, a fan is directed towards the peduncle during the entire flowering period.

For normal ripening, it is necessary to withstand a number of conditions:

• air temperature from +18 to + 21 ° С;
• constant good lighting;
• excellent air circulation in the room.

What varieties are suitable

When choosing a variety, you should pay attention to the following parameters:

• good yield;
• large size of berries;
• immunity from diseases and pests;
• pleasant taste;
• small bush size.

The most suitable varieties for year-round house cultivation are:

• Maria;
• Tristan;
• Polka;
• Rusanka
• Geneva;
• Yellow miracle;
• Mount Everest;
• Homemade delicacy;
• Festival;
• Roxane
• Queen Elizabeth.

Methods for growing strawberries in winter

Gardeners have long come up with a lot of methods for growing this berry throughout the year. These are methods based on the principles of hydroponics and the use of plastic bags. Absolutely any of them is suitable.

Recently, it is popular to germinate strawberry seedlings in bags on a heated balcony. To do this, suitable soil is poured into them, a hole is cut under each bush in the surface of the polyethylene, and then seedlings are planted. With this approach, it is necessary to remember the frequent airing of the room, because otherwise, the root system of the bushes will simply lock and rot.

You can grow a berry by planting one bush separately in ordinary flower pots. To do this, either seedlings dug in autumn from the beds or alternatively sprouted seedlings from seeds are used.

Another way is the hydroponic system, in which strawberry seedlings are planted in any organic substrate or in the aquatic environment. The root system of the bushes must be fed with a nutritional composition.

Did you know? The largest berry of strawberries weighed about 250 g. This harvest was grown by Japanese gardener Kyoji Nakao in 2015. The berry reached a height of 8 cm, a width of 12 cm and a diameter of 30 cm.

If you follow these simple rules, it is not difficult to grow strawberries at home, and the berry harvest will delight all year round.