I'm going to be planting 25 Cavendish Strawberries later this week. It had good reviews and is one of the few rated for zone 3. Ordered from Nourse Farms.

I'm amending with about 1 inch of leaf compost, a little 10-10-10, and some garden lime and rototilling that in. I have acidic soil.

The 1st year, I be mulching with leaf compost. After that I'll mulch with pine needles to keep the berries clean.

Thanks for your reply! It's probably getting too late to re-order strawberries from a catalog, so I'll have to see what area nurseries have to offer, but will read up, and keep a lookout for the Cavendish.
I'm having black dirt hauled in for the new strawberry bed.
What I bought last year had a PH of about 8.
I have a couple bags of organic mulch to mix, plus I bought a bag of soil acidfier if needed, to get the PH down a little.
It's going to be a raised bed, but do you think I should add sand, or pearlite to the soil so it's not so heavy and has better drainage?
Thanks, Tom

Does the soil that the raised bed will sit on drain well? If so, I don't think that you will have to make any adjustments in the bed itself. If not, I'd add an inch or so of sand at the bottom of the raised bed.

Northernmn, thanks for your reply. I guess my yard drains average. The top foot or so is borderline sandy loam according to the mayo jar test, but down deeper there's
a layer of clay. I guess the raised bed will drain regardless, but I was just thinking that strawberry roots / plants might prefer growing in a less dense soil.