Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

Celebrate National Strawberry Day!

Plant your own crop of this state favorite

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED FEB 26, 2021

Nothing like growing, picking and eating your own strawberries. Now is the perfect time to plant them. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Get ready to celebrate a California favorite: Saturday is National Strawberry Day.

Although the exact origins of this commemoration on this particular date are unclear, Feb. 27 has been tied to strawberries for several years. Why February? In part, because of the strawberry’s red color and heart shape. It’s like a fruity Valentine.

More likely, that late February date coincides with planting time for many California growers – including Sacramento.

According to the California Strawberry Commission, our state grows 88% of the nation’s strawberries on approximately 34,000 acres. Overall, the state has about 300 strawberry farms, divided into five zones: Watsonville/Salinas, Santa Maria, Oxnard, Orange County/San Diego, and the Central Valley.

Statewide, fresh strawberry production averages 50,000 pounds per acre each season, according to the commission. In 2019, California growers harvested more than 1.8 billion pounds of strawberries.

Commercially, California strawberries are available year round. Supply peaks April through August when growers throughout much of the state are harvesting.

Strawberries continue to be immensely popular with California home gardeners, too. More than 600 varieties of strawberries are available, but some do much better in California than others. According to StrawberryPlants.org (which specializes in this crop), the state commission recommends Albion , Aromas , Camarosa , Camino Real , Chandler , Diamante , Gaviota , Oso Grande, Pacific, Seascape , Selva and Ventana .

For Sacramento’s summer heat, a best bet is Seascape. Disease resistant, this ever-bearing strawberry yields very nice fruit year round, especially in late spring and fall. It’s tolerant of early spring heat as well as Sacramento’s hot summers, and does not need as many chill hours as other varieties.

For more on strawberries: https://strawberryplants.org/ and https://www.calstrawberry.com .

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

fruit strawberries gardening Sacramento planting February backyard produce crops spring planting weather

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Find our fall recipes here!

Thanks to Our Sponsor!

Local News

Sites We Like

Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3

November still offers good weather for fall planting:

* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.

* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Find our spring recipes here!

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

Find our summer recipes here!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Find our winter recipes here!