I like Mother Earth News, too.  Last year, I bought Birds & Blooms grow it cook it and I'm finding that I am referring to it a lot this year.  It's broken down by vegetable, gives plan... more »

I like Mother Earth News, too.  Last year, I bought Birds & Blooms grow it cook it and I'm finding that I am referring to it a lot this year.  It's broken down by vegetable, gives planting advice, harvest tips, top picks, tasty heirlooms, and then a page of recipes.  I also like organic farm & garden and Birds & Blooms garden all stars.  (less)

The Vegetable Gardeners Bible, 100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American Garden by Carolyn J. Male, Melons for the Passionate Grower by Amy Goldman , Teaming with Microbes (by Jeff Lowenfels, Wayne Lewis,&nbs... more »

The Vegetable Gardeners Bible, 100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American Garden by Carolyn J. Male, Melons for the Passionate Grower by Amy Goldman , Teaming with Microbes (by Jeff Lowenfels, Wayne Lewis,  and Elaine), Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte, Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth,  Rodale's Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, and I haven't read this book yet but I'm getting it and I've heard it's really great is Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons! The guy who wrote the book started this way of gardening called Biointensive gardening. If you are interested go to this website, go down the page,  and go to the how to videos!! They are free! http://growbiointensive.org/Self_Teaching.html (less)

They can be grown from seed indoors and then transplanted. I've done it. I tend to seed them about 10 weeks before the last frost and then plant them out after the frost.

The catch with seeding them... more »

They can be grown from seed indoors and then transplanted. I've done it. I tend to seed them about 10 weeks before the last frost and then plant them out after the frost.

The catch with seeding them is what you're seeding - there's typically only a limited number of varieties you can find seed for - the rest you end up buying crowns. Think about when you want your strawberries to be ripe, what kind of strawberry you want, and how you want to handle your year to year maintenance to determine which types to grow.

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Strawberries are still something I'm struggling with. I've successfully grown them, and I've had some that tasted pretty good, but the whole operation still isn't something that I've got to where I want it... more »

Strawberries are still something I'm struggling with. I've successfully grown them, and I've had some that tasted pretty good, but the whole operation still isn't something that I've got to where I want it yet (I tend to do this, I hammer my failures until I have a success, and my successes until I find perfection). Strawberries are actually one of my bigger focuses this year. That and watermelon.

The overview would be that you have the June bearing, the day neutral/everbearing, and then the "heirloom" types (the red and yellow alpine are all I've really found so far).

The June bearing will produce the biggest berries and the heaviest crop and they'll do it all at once - they also probably won't produce the first year or shouldn't be allowed to so they can establish. They're the type that will always be busy throwing out runners.

The day neutral/everbearing type will produce less and the berries will be smaller (normally) but they'll produce most of the season. These will also tend to produce the first year you plant the crowns.

The alpine strawberries are typically grown from seed (because that's normally the only way you find them), will produce berries the first year, and the fruit is MUCH smaller and the taste much different. The fruit tend to be small and cylindrical in shape. Width is slightly larger than your typical pencil.

Then there's the whole deal on what sort of row system you use, how you trim the beds at the end of the year, and when/how you replace the beds.

On my quest for perfection, I'm trying to fly in the face of reason and:

1. Find a day neutral type with size to rival the June bearers.
2. Make sure I've got a taste better than the best the grocery store can offer.
3. Find a way to grow them that never requires bed replacement and allows me to continually renew the bed without the need to buy new plants.

Or as usual, I'm attempting the near impossible.

If you just want simple and easy, wait until the rest of the plants are on sale at Walmart or wherever and go buy the transplants (not bear root), and stick them in a pot. That's typically as simple as it gets and (in my experienced) the most geared to produce a favorable result. It's also the most expensive route though.
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