ANSWER: If your plan is to plant the strawberry plants in the greenhouse when it arrives, I would keep the potted plants in a semi-shaded, protected area. It probably won’t make much difference because strawberry plants are very tough.

ANSWER: Strawberry plants are as tough as old boots and will easily withstand several degrees below 0C.
Plant them now, they will survive and be the better for being planted out.

ANSWER: As far as quantities are concerned I can only give comparative amounts:
Christine – above average
Alice – above average
Pegasus – above average
An average crop per plant is about 375g.

As for growing in a greenhouse, it’s not a good idea to plant them in the ground – pots maybe. The problem with strawberries is that from autumn to late winter they need a period of cold temperatures (chill period). Without this they will not produce a good crop.

By planting in pots in a greenhouse the pots can be placed outside after fruiting until late the next winter.

ANSWER: If nothing happened last year with the plants, I personally would assume that not much will happen this year either. I personally would abandon them.

If you want to be certain, wait till May this year and if you don’t have a crop then consign the plants to the compost heap.

ANSWER: Different varieties do start to grow at dfferent times. Definitely give them until the end of March before considering them dead.

ANSWER: Strawberry plants grow best in nutrient poor ground. All that is required is a handful of blood, fish and per square metre in late March. If you feed them much more they will grow lush green leaves which leave them open to infection.

ANSWER: Strawberry plants are much hardier than most people realise. I definitely would leave it outside, in a protected position. If it can be placed against a house wall that would be ideal. The shed is definitely not a good idea. The same advice applies to strawberries in hanging baskets.

ANSWER: Strawberries send out runners to propqagate themselves. If the runner touches soil it will often root and produce a new plant for next year. If you don’t need new plants, cut the runners off as near to the mother plant as possible. In your case it seems you don’t need any more this year, so cut the runners off, they will not produce strawberries this year. Strawberries produce a slightly better crop when planted in the garden rather than pots. So, yes, do plant them in your garden. Make sure you keep them well watered until autumn. After then, natural rainfall will be sufficient.

ANSWER: Normally Elsanta have ripe fruit in mid July but that does depend on your climate.

You don’t say if the fruit are ripe or not. If unripe they can still take a month or so to become ripe. Whatever, I certainly wouldn’t throw them away, you won’t get any more fruit this year if you do that. Eat them when they are ripe is my advce.

ANSWER: It’s really up to you. On average, if you replace your strawberry plants every three years you should be OK. Maybe you can stretch it to four or even five years. But be aware, if your strawberry plants suffer from disease next year, it may well be the case that you can’t plant strawberries in the same area for three years or so without risking a crop failure.

ANSWER: The strawberry article I wrote advises against growing strawberry plants from seed. Germination rates are low, the young plants are tender and prone to frost damage. The fruits you get may not be true to type. For those reasons I have never grown from seed.

ANSWER: Strawberry plants send out stems which lay on the ground, these are called runners. Where the stem has a growing point (node) it will put down roots into the ground. Each of these rooted stem points is an individual strawberry plant which can be grown on. See our page for a detailed explanation with pictures.

Strawberry plants can also be bought from garden centres and online. Planting ones you have grown yourself from runners or shop bought ones is exactly the same. See our page on planting new strawberry plants.

ANSWER: Unless you live in some of the coldest parts of the UK, the runners should have time to establish themselves this year. The only problem may be that they are in grow bags which are exposed to the cold and wind. I suspect this won’t be a problem because I have done the same thing in Warwickshire with no problems.

ANSWER: As far as I know they do but this is only important if you attempt to grow strawberry plants from seed. The fruits and the runners from a plant will be unaffected by cross-pollination. Only the seeds (which are on the outside of the strawberry fruits) will be affected.