‘Allstar’ is a highly productive, low-maintenance strawberry variety that backyard gardeners love. Its delicious berries and resistance to common strawberry diseases make it an easy pick to add to your garden wishlist every season. Join organic farmer Jenna Rich as she shows us how to plant, grow, and care for ‘Allstar’ June-bearing strawberries. Summer is almost upon us, and for me, nothing signals summer quite like strawberry plants beginning to blossom and set fruit. A summer day isn’t complete until I’ve picked and consumed a handful of fresh berries! ‘Allstar’ strawberry plants are vigorous and wildly productive, so I recommend this variety if you want to work berries into your everyday snacks like I do. They can grow in containers, raised beds, or ground. Get your jam and pie recipes ready; you’ll need them! Let’s talk about one of my, and so many other gardeners’, favorite strawberry varieties, the June-bearing ‘Allstar’. What Are ‘Allstar’ June-bearing Strawberries? ‘Allstar’ might as well come with a home gardening gold star. It’s beloved for its low-maintenance attitude, classic strawberry flavor, and high yields. Plus, it’s virtually disease-free! Fruits are big and juicy and ripen in early summer. Its thin skins make it perfect for fresh eating, desserts, and preserves. Unlike ever-bearing varieties that supply small to medium-sized fruits all season, ‘Allstar’ is June-bearing. This type of strawberry produces a main flush of large berries in peak summer, around June and July. They require a period of dormancy and grow well across zones. Appearance The plant features dense, medium to dark green, glossy foliage and grows to about nine inches tall and 12 inches wide. The flowers are white and five-petaled with yellow centers. The berries are bright orangeish-red, large, and plentiful. How to Grow ‘Allstar’ is relatively low-maintenance, but to be rewarded with delicious, large berries, the plants require a few basics. Sunlight Strawberry plants require full sun to grow properly, and yields will be best when they receive six to ten hours daily. Less sunlight may result in leaf drop and a decrease in productivity. Plants will appreciate some afternoon shade. Consider using shade cloth during periods of prolonged, harsh sunlight. Water The soil should be consistently moist but not waterlogged, and plants should receive at least an inch of water weekly. Root rot and disease spread quickly in soggy soil. Add compost to adjust soil consistency and help with drainage. Soil ‘Allstar’ strawberries require well-draining, loamy, and fertile soil. They’ll appreciate a healthy application of well-aged, organic compost worked in before planting. Plants can adapt to various soil types. Amend the soil until the pH is between 6 and 6.5. Mulch Mulch around your plants to reduce weed pressure, help retain soil moisture, and protect the crown from cool temperatures. If rainfall has been ample and the soil is exceptionally moist, hold off on mulching during the summer, as this could cause root and crown rot. Add several layers of organic straw mulch before the first fall frost heading into winter to protect plants from frost damage and cold temperatures. Remove any mulch put over the plants for winter protection to fertilize and clean up winter debris. Some gardeners choose to reapply mulch for the season, but it’s a personal preference. Climate and Temperature Requirements Before planting out, temperatures should be comfortably between 50°F (10°C) and 80°F (27°C). Excess humidity can cause disease, and cold temperatures may cause damage. If temperatures dip below 50°F (10°C) for a prolonged period, cover plants with row cover. The foliage of ‘Allstar’ is hardy enough to stick around into winter, creating a ground cover. Fertilizing Prepare the soil by mixing lots of well-aged compost and a potassium-rich fertilizer, spreading about ⅓ cup around each area where a plant will grow. Use a high-quality, all-purpose, well-balanced (10-10-10-) fertilizer on your strawberry plants. Feed new plants every two weeks with slow-release fertilizer. Follow the instructions and dosages as per the package instructions. Harvesting When berries begin ripening, get your harvest buckets ready in late spring to early summer. Harvest often to keep berries from spoiling and avoid picking early. Strawberries won’t ripen once off the vine. Pruning Pruning is unnecessary for strawberries; monitoring and removing runners will help control their spread. Runners will begin to appear in the spring as the day length increases. In year one, removing runners allows the plant to focus energy on establishing a solid root system. Propagation Propagating strawberry plants is fun and easy. Purchase bare roots from reputable sources, plugs, or plants at your local nursery, or create new plants by potting up runners you removed from established plants. You can even start them from seed!

Are you looking for a tree that produces intense flowers and delicious fruit? Look no further than productive and easy-to-grow ‘Rainier’ cherry trees. In this article, plant expert Matt Dursum covers how to plant, grow, and care for these wonderful cherries. It’s hard to beat cherry trees for your edible landscape. They’re easy to grow and thrive in a variety of climates. Plus, they put on a show of soft blooms in the spring. ‘Rainer’ varieties produce tons of golden-red fruits and big, beautiful blooms. Their fruit is juicy, sweet, and perfect for eating raw, right off the tree. If you live in a colder climate, these cherry trees will thrive. Let’s dive into how to grow and maintain these highly productive and stunning stone fruits. What Is It? The US produces two types of cherries: sour and sweet. While sour cherries are great in canning, pies, sauces, and infusions, sweet cherries are delicious when eaten fresh. There are around 900 varieties of sweet cherries on the market, including our beloved ‘Rainiers.’ ‘Rainier’ cherries are varieties bred for their sweet, golden to soft red fruit. They have a mild, very cherry-like flavor that’s juicy and nutritious. They are vigorous fruit producers and stay relatively short in stature, which makes them easy to harvest! Besides their fruit, they explode in gorgeous blossoms in the spring. The white flowers put on a light, floral scent that’s hard not to adore. Plant them in entryways, landscapes, or home orchards, and you’ll quickly fall in love with them. Characteristics These small cherry trees grow up to 30 feet tall and produce dense clusters of beautiful white flowers in the mid-spring. They mature and bear fruit in around 4 to 5 years after planting. When they fruit, they form dense clusters of cherries that are easy to harvest. As they grow, they form an easy-to-maintain pyramidal shape. Besides their flowers and delicious stone fruits, they’re fantastic at attracting pollinators. Birds also love them as food sources and nesting grounds. They make great additions to a pollinator-friendly garden outside their invasive range. Native Area Cherry trees are native to Europe and Asia, where they’ve been cultivated for centuries. There are hundreds of species in the Prunus genus. Many, like Japanese Sakura, are grown for their ornamental blooms. Botanist Harold Fogle bred ‘Rainier’ cherries for the first time in 1952 at Washington State University. Fogle crossbred ‘Bing’ varieties and ‘Van’ varieties to get a new variety of Bings that would last for longer in the season. ‘Rainiers’ arrived in nurseries in 1960 and continued to accompany ‘Bing’ cherries in orchards. People propagated them as pollinators for the more common ‘Bing’ varieties. In the 1980s, that all began to change when growers and customers realized ‘Rainiers’ had such amazing fruit. The parent species of this tree, Prunus avium is invasive to areas of North America. Make a note of these areas before planting, as sweet cherries escape cultivation in these regions, crowding out native species. Planting Plant these wonderful cherry trees in the spring, just before they break out of dormancy. They’ll thrive in well-drained soil in an area that’s elevated for better drainage. Make sure the area gets full sun. If you’re growing a transplant or bare root sapling, moisten the root ball before planting. Dig a large hole, about twice the size of the root ball, and gently place your young tree inside. The area where the roots connect to the trunk should be barely visible. If you’re planting a grafted tree, ensure the graft is above the soil line. Add loamy soil around the newly planted tree, covering the roots. Give your transplant a good amount of water so the soil stays moist. Try adding a layer of moss or mulch around the base of your tree. ‘Rainier’ cherries are not self-fertile. Therefore, plant yours with another cherry variety for cross-pollination. ‘Bing’ or ‘Stella’ varieties are recommended companions.

The most popular cherry grown by commercial farmers is also available for growing in home gardens. In this article, gardening expert Wendy Moulton shares how to care for fantastic ‘Bing’ cherry trees! The sweet fragrance of white cherry blossoms in spring will burst into rich, large fruits in summer with their tasty, sweet flesh. In autumn, the green serrated leaves turn golden – truly a tree for all seasons. It is, however, the cherries that they are known for. ‘Bing’ cherry trees produce deep red heart-shaped fruits with a sweet, delicious taste and small seeds, giving you more cherry for your pie. These vigorous growers are perfect for temperate climates and will produce up to 50 pounds of fruit per year for many years to come. The prolific fruit on this tree, the large size of the cherries, and the deep red color all make this the variety to plant. It requires a pollinator tree planted nearby, which adds to the variation in cherries you can grow in a home garden. Here, I’ll share the requirements ‘Bing’ cherries need to perform at their best. What Is It? Prunus avium ‘Bing’ is America’s most produced variety of cherry in the commercial market. Its origins have a colorful history, starting in the mid-1800s when the Lewelling family traveled west across the country from Iowa to Oregon, bringing with them 700 fruit trees. They started the first nursery on the West Coast and planted orchards of prunes, apples, and cherries, which is believed was the beginning of Oregon’s fruit-growing industry. The ‘Bing’ cherry tree was named for Chinese horticulturalist and foreman at the Lewelling orchards, Ah Bing. His legacy lives on in this award-winning cherry cultivar. For the nearly 150 years that the ‘Bing’ cherry has been in production, it has set the standard by which other cultivars are judged. Native Area Originally from Germany, these trees are descendants of the ‘Napoleon Bigarreau’ variety. The ‘Bing’ cherry was bred in Milwaukie, Oregon, from original trees brought from Iowa by the Henderson Luelling. Characteristics ‘Bing’ is a tall tree with a rounded canopy that can grow up to 35 feet and 25 feet wide. Dwarf varieties are more compact, with a mature height of around 15 feet and 12 feet wide. The leaves are long, serrated, dark green for most of the year, and turn golden yellow in the fall. The tree will be full of pretty, fragrant spring blossoms that form the sought-after large fruits, a deep red when ripe in the summer. This tree is a vigorous grower and a prolific producer of quality, firm cherries. ‘Bing’ requires another pollinator cherry close by to set fruit; it is not self-pollinating. The best-recommended varieties to plant as pollinators are ‘Sam’, ‘Van’, ‘Rainier’, and ‘Stella’. Planting Find a position in full sun and with enough space for the mature size of a ‘Bing’ cherry—at least 25 feet—and a pollinator cherry. Locate it away from other plants and buildings in a spot with plenty of sunlight. Dig a hole at least twice the width and height of the root ball so that the roots have a chance to expand and sit in the ground well to hold the weight of the tree. A stake is necessary, particularly in windy areas. Add the tree and backfill the soil, pressing it down as you go to remove any air pockets in the soil and prevent any bacterial infections from getting to the roots. Create a basin around the tree’s base to help direct water toward the roots. After planting, water the plant well and add a layer of mulch, making sure that the mulch does not touch the tree’s bark.