Hello neighbor!

I live Mountain View :) You can purchase bareroot strawberry plants online through most nurseries. I've had good luck with Raintree. Alternatively, you can buy them at a local nursery, they have them too (you'll have to look around a bit as they're not as obvious as they are during spring but they're there), but they don't have as much variety. I live close by Summer Winds, so that's where I go, the staff is always very friendly and helpful.

The larger container you get the better, and the less watering you'll have to do as well. I wouldn't recommend strawberry containers at all. Tried it twice and they do HORRIBLY in the summer heat.

My larger container strawberries do great, but can get completely toasted in a day if I don't put them in the shade during heat waves. But they're also on concrete which only makes things worse. So just watch out for those really hot days, and they'll do great. I haven't tried hanging baskets though, so I'm not sure how well they'll do in those given our climate.

The best time to plant them is fall for our area. This gives them plenty of time to get established by summer, before the heat sets in. Normally, you're supposed to pinch the flowers after planting them in spring, so energy goes into producing a larger, healthier plant which will mean a bigger harvest later. But by planting in fall you won't have to do that either.

I have problems with squirrels always munching on the strawberries. If this becomes a problem for you too, I found bird netting works great.

I hope this helps!

I first tried growing strawberries in regular pots and that did not work very well at all. Now I have them in a homemade version of an earthbox self watering container made with 18 gal rubbermaid boxes. They are thriving - and really low maintenance - just 1 weekly refill of the water reservoir and occasional feeding.

I actually prefer using these containers to growing strawberries in the ground because it's much easier to control slugs and snails.

If you want to drive to Sacramento, you can have mine for free! I have several containers full, and was about to put them on Craigslist (containers not included!) because I don't have the time to fuss with them.

E-mail me if you want them.

Carla in Sac

Lemonwater and Bethl,
The information you provided is very helpful. I will look for large pots. I have a large plastic container. That must be good for planting strawberries. But, it will be very expensive to fill it up. Is strawberry picky about soil or can I buy any potting mix?
Carla, thank you for offering the strawberry plants. I would love to have them. But, I probably cannot make it to Sacramento.

Are there any good nurseries in south bay? Summer winds do not have them. I am also looking for spinach transplants.
Thanks

Roger Reynolds Nursery in Menlo Park has strawberry plants for sale. I'm sure other places have them as well, but I was at Roger Reynolds just a few days ago and saw them with my own eyes. RR also has a good selection of winter veggies: whether they have spinach???they might.
I have one plant in a strawberry pot, one plant in a regular large terra cotta pot and 6 plants in a raised bed. They grow well in either case, become larger year after year and are pretty easy to grow. Any good potting soil is fine for them. I'd go with one plant per pot.