Since there is so much interest in edible landscaping, I thought I’d share how we grow strawberries: as groundcover. We planted a few of these spreading perennials on a sunny slope five or six years ago and they have taken it from there. If you’re thinking of doing something similar, here are the advantages and disadvantages of using this plant as a groundcover.
- The plants spread quickly and the flowers are sweet. The look is kind of old-fashioned in a cottage-garden kind of way.
- Since you’re not thinning out the oldest plants, or limiting the number of runners, the berries tend to be smaller than on cultivated plants. They are very tasty, however.
- The chipmunks and birds will be as thrilled with the taste of the berries as you are!
- In some places strawberry plants can grow pretty thickly but in general they aren’t so thick that they are able to out-compete the weeds. So some weeding is always necessary in this bed. If one of your reasons for wanting a ground cover is to avoid weeding in that area, strawberries aren’t the plants for you.
Although the variety I planted was labeled as “day neutral” meaning that they are supposed to produce berries all summer, the reality is that they produce heavily in June and lightly again in the fall.
