When growing strawberries from seeds in your garden, you’ll have fresh, juicy fruit to enjoy and share with your friends. Growing strawberries from seeds is a great source of complex carbohydrates and vitamin C. Although strawberries don’t store well at room temperature, they can be frozen for later use.

Growing Strawberries from Seeds Successfully you will need the best strawberry seeds and the best stawberry seed come from Home Town Seeds.

Although hybrid strawberry plants won’t grow true from seed, several varieties will do well when growing strawberries from seeds. Growing Fresca strawberries from seeds will produce large-sized fruit with crops in early summer and early fall. Growing Alpine strawberries from seeds will produce smaller fruit all summer and come in red and yellow/white varieties.

Here’s how to successfully begin growing strawberries from seed:

That’s cold! In order to jump-start your strawberry seeds, place them in an airtight container and place the container in the freezer for two to four weeks. This period will simulate the wintering the seeds would experience in nature. On planting day, allow the seeds several hours to come to room temperature before planting.

Thin and rich. Strawberry seeds should be started in a shallow tray with about an inch of growing soil. You’ll have good success with a growing mulch made from mixing peat moss and soil rich in organic material at a 3:1 ratio. Spread the seeds out on the surface of the soil and then cover with an additional ¼ of soil. Water the seeds in and place the tray where it will get plenty of sunlight.

Wait for a third. Your strawberry seeds will take two to three weeks to germinate. Continue growing new plants in the starter tray until they develop three “true” leaves. Once your strawberry plants have reached this milestone, they can be transferred to small, individual containers. When all danger of frost has passed, your seedlings can be transferred out into the garden.

A pinch to grow on. Strawberry plants don’t begin full production until their second summer. During the first year, pinch off all blooms from your plants before they have a chance to fruit so that the plant can use all of its energy to grow a strong root system.