Kitchen Garden Forum

As I have given up my allotment, I have saved about 20 strawberry runners in pots for this year. My new plot at home is still hardstanding at the moment, and will be for some time. I am planning on potting up the runners in either troughs or bigger pots.

My question is: what medium should I plant them in? I was thinking of a soil based mix perhaps would be best, but as I've never grown them in pots before, I'm not sure.

I grow some in pots in the polytunnel and use homemade soil based compost. When I am digging tunnel and greenhouse beds I bag up the soil from the first trench then when I add compost the beds don't get too high. I use this with leafmould and sharp sand to make a JI type mix with fish, blood and bone as the fertiliser with a bit of extra potash.

I grow French Strawberries in pots in shop bought multi purpose compost and will re-pot and add a bit of fish, blood and bone to it, I then feed once a week during the summer with tomato fertiliser.

If you're planning on leaving them in the same pots for up to three years I,d be tempted to use a soil based compost which is more robust than the usual potting compost. I suspect this will probably be less prone to drying out in warm weather although obviously you will still need to add some fertiliser or nutrition in subsequent years.

thanks all, I'll make up a soil based mix for them