Here is everything I wish I had known when I was picking a strawberry variety to plant.

Last year I planted 25 bareroots each of Earliglow and Sparkle. I planted in an old chicken coop pen, so there was plenty of fertilizer, spread lots of straw and did a little weeding. ThatÂs it. Keep in mind that I live off the tip of Lake Michigan, so my weather is CRAZY.

Earliglow- When eating, there is a HUGE burst of sweet strawberry flavor that fades quickly. Tremendous fresh eating. The plants are prolific and disease resistant. Berries set color quick and can be picked when still off color (not full red). Makes them much less susceptible to slugs, snails and birds. The berries are small to medium, but this is the first year. Berries have an offset cap which makes capping very easy. Really a great, early, June bearing strawberry. While with fruit, it isnÂt a fan of heavy rain.

Sparkle- A firm strawberry which is taking longer to establish. It is a midseason June bearing berry, with firm berries that hide in the plant and have a close fitting cap. Kind of a pain to harvest due to tough stems( ripe berry, when picked, often comes off with adjacent unripe berry). Almost have to snip with scissors. Disease resistant and moderate fruit set. Very, very good strawberry flavor which lasts and lasts. Medium to large berries. Must stay on plant till fully ripe or no flavor. A little more difficult to maintain (protect from pests), but worth it due to LARGE strawberry flavor that never goes away. Appears to be unaffected by adverse weather (cool nite temps, dry conditions and heavy rains). Stores well due to firm fruit.

I also have a patch of Ogallala Strawberries. An indestructible, annoying little strawberry that even the birds donÂt eat. 1 in 25 have a big, sweet strawberry flavor. Berries must ripen on plant until almost rotted to get sweet flavor. Resistant to every possible thing including the tiller. Small, seedy berries with close setting caps. OK, with all that said I still really like them. They have a neat, long lasting, unique strawberry flavor. They are everbearing and are great for visitors to the garden. As in, sure go ahead and pick some berries, theyÂre right over there, in the corner, away from the good ones ;) I also keep this patch unnetted, as sort of an offering to the bird gods. It kind of works.

And lastly- Every, single one of these strawberries are GREAT in a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie!!! The strawberry flavor is out of this world.

Hope this information helps someone out there thinking of planting a strawberry patch J