In spring, strawberries sometimes look sad: the foliage has turned brown, and the bushes seem to lie flat on the ground. Many gardeners run in a panic to purchase chemicals, but there is no need to rush into this. The plant does not need a powerful dose of nitrogen fertilizers – it needs to be carefully awakened.
What goes into a bowl of berries in the spring
Forget about digging up the soil every year. Strawberries have roots close to the surface, and any movement with a shovel easily injures the thin shoots. Green manure and a layer of mulch do an excellent job of feeding the bushes without any mineral cocktails. Nitrogen is necessary for growth, but only in organic form.
Agronomist Olga Semyonova, in a conversation with Pravda.Ru, noted that for a quick spring start good compost or humus is enoughwhich has already rotted. It is scattered around the bushes, and the plant itself will absorb exactly the required volume for its metabolism. There is no risk of burning the roots.
What is the secret of mulch and why is it better than a shovel?
Soil is a home for microorganisms. When we loosen it, moisture comes out and the very mycelium that supplies the bushes with food dies. It is better to use organic matter as a kind of blanket for the beds. Ground cover farming techniques help keep acidity normal. If the soil is too dense, it will be saved by the so-called extreme plants, which are planted nearby as compactors.
Humidity it is important to maintain, but without turning the bed into a swamp. Rot on the roots quickly develops from waterlogging, and fighting them is more difficult than removing old stumps throughout the area. The entire garden should be treated as one large ecosystem, where each element influences the other.
How the health of the soil affects the harvest
The acidity of the soil is of great importance – strawberries grow well only in a slightly acidic environment. If the soil is alkalized, then beneficial microelements become unavailable to the plant. It is important to check the structure: good soil should be loose, almost like forest floor. This can be achieved with heat accumulators or proper covering with hay. Such mulch not only smothers weeds, but also creates a soft microclimate at the roots.
We previously reported which cucumbers are best grown in heifers in 2026.
