Episode 8: The Berries and the Bees

Spring gardening is in full swing! This week, Mark covers care instructions for strawberry and blueberry plants, along with just how much ground (literally) our pollinator-friendly flower seed mix will cover. Don’t forget to send in your own gardening questions for a chance to be featured in a future episode!

More of a reader? See the questions and answers below.

Mentioned In This Video

Blueberry Plants and Bushes

Container Gardening

Strawberry Plants

Flower Seed

Questions & Answers In This Video

Melissa in Zone 6

A: Here's some quick math to help you calculate your seed coverage:

This seed blend recommends 9-18 lbs per acre.
For a quarter acre, that comes to 2 ¼ lbs to 4 ½ lbs of seeds.
So that would be 9-18 of our ¼-lb bags of seed.

You can plant on the lighter side if you want a more natural display of blooms, and it makes it a little more affordable. Or you can go on the heavier side if you want a denser display of blooms.

Shop Gurney's® Benefical Bug Wildflower Seed Blend and other pollinator-friendly Wildflower Mixes

Gary in Zone 8

A: I recommend a 50% peat or peat-based soil mixed with 50% pine or small pine bark. This is important for the good drainage you need for blueberries.

Also, I would recommend a granular fertilizer geared to acid-loving plants, like our Blueberries Alive! Fertilizer. In addition, since you'll be watering so much, you'll be leaching a lot of nutrients out of that good, well-draining soil, I'd recommend a liquid, acid-based fertilizer at least once a month.

And if you don't want to mess around with mixing your own soil, try our Blueberry Success Mix. Just pour it in the pot and you're ready to plant.

Shop Ka-Bluey® Northern Highbush Blueberry Plant and Blueberries Alive! Fertilizer

Cecilia in Zone 7

A: For Junebearing strawberries, coming out of the winter you can trim off the brown and dead leaves above the crown. The main trimming comes after your harvest.

Trim all the leaves off above the crown. Then the runners—I think what you're referring to are runners that are crowding the pot—you can trim off individual runners.

For everbearing strawberries, all you really have to do is trim off excessive runners. Overwintering options would just be like for your regular strawberries. If you can, build a little structure and just put straw or frost protection over it—you're in Zone 7, so it shouldn't take too much.

Shop Grow Tub® Strawberry Tower and Grow Tub® Tiered Strawberry Planter

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Episode 8: The Berries and the Bees

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