Learn how to grow alpine strawberries

If you’d like to try something new in your fruit and vegetable garden this year, how about growing alpine strawberries?

These little jewels are so much sweeter and more flavorful than large-fruited strawberry species. Plus, they’re easy to grow and require less space.

Alpine strawberries (Fragaria vesca) are small in size (less than an inch long), but their flavor is unsurpassed. In France, these little delicacies are called fraises des bois. The little fruits taste like a combination of berries and pineapples, with a slightly floral note.

Alpine strawberries are perennial, woodland berries, and they’ve been bred and selected from wild strains over many generations. Hardy in USDA zones 5-9, with light winter mulching necessary only in the far north, alpine strawberries grow in full sun to part shade. Well-drained sites are best, and prior to planting, add compost or another organic matter to the soil.

Unlike our familiar cultivated strawberries, most alpine- types do not send out runners. Instead, the size of the mother plants increases over time and you can divide the crowns in spring to get more plants. This means that alpine strawberries are extremely well-behaved and do quite well in containers and raised beds. Plants should be divided every three or four years. Plant them about 10 to 12 inches apart for the best performance.

Even when planted from seed, alpine strawberries quickly produce fruits, often the same season the seeds are sown. Their tiny, sweet fruits are produced continually all summer long, providing the grower with a handful of berries every day from just a dozen plants.

To grow alpine strawberries from seed, you can either start the seeds indoors, under grow lights in late winter, or sow them outside in a protected area, such as a cold frame. Though seeds can take several weeks to germinate, once they do, growth occurs rapidly. Keep the seed-starting area moist until germination occurs, whether growing indoors or out. Do not cover the seeds heavily after planting because they need light to germinate; just a fine dusting of sand or compost to hold them in place is all that’s necessary. The optimum germination temperature is between 65 and 75 degrees F.

You can also purchase alpine strawberries as plants. Sold as bare-root or potted specimens, these mature plants will produce berries much faster, but they’re also more expensive than growing from seed.

Because alpine strawberries are such pretty little plants, they make a great ground cover and look beautiful edging a garden bed or trailing from window boxes or patio pots.

In addition to popular, red-fruited alpine strawberry varieties, such as “Alexandria” and “Mignonette,” there are also several yellow-fruited types. “Pineapple Crush” is one popular yellow variety, and its flavor is touted to have a hit of pineapple flavor. “Yellow Wonder” is another excellent yellow-fruited type.

In addition to being delicious when eaten fresh, alpine strawberries make excellent jam and strawberry syrup.