Home and Garden

Ideas For DIY

DIY Strawberry Plant Care

by

There’s nothing better than growing your own strawberries! If you’ve ever wondered how to care for strawberry bushes to get a healthy, strawberry patch, here are a few simple but efficient tips for strawberry plant care! Check out this gardening DIY here.

Growing Strawberries

Pick a pot that is at least 24 inches tall so your plants have room to grow. It is best to grow ever bearing strawberries so you have a crop to eat all summer long. Fill your container with soil such as an organic potting mix. You may want to use hanging basket style planters for strawberries that can be found on the market but an ordinary planter will do fine.

Be sure the pot has adequate drainage for water. It is best to start with young seedlings or established plants and not seeds which will take too long to grow. If you have large pot you can put more than one plant inside it but if the pot is smaller use only one plant so the strawberries can get enough sunlight for adequate growth. You can even grow them inside if they get enough sunlight.

Give the plants a good watering but don’t over water the plants and soak them so there is water standing around in pools. Use a high phosphorus liquid fertilizer every week to encourage the plants to flower and start bearing fruit.

Rotate the plants as they grow so the plants get adequate sunlight on all sides. Aphids and spider mites can be a problem for strawberries so use an insecticide soap on them to treat the infestations. You can make homemade soap by using one part soap and 15 parts water which should kill the pests. If they continue to be a problem ask your local garden center for help.

Harvest your strawberries once they are red and fully ripe. Once they produce fruit the plant will put out runners, which you can stick in the pot to grow a new plant or clip them off. They can be eaten fresh or frozen for later use. If you are freezing them, arrange the berries on trays and freeze them in the freezer before putting them in bags. This will keep the berries from sticking together and make them easier to use when you are ready to consume them. Fresh berries should be eaten within a week before they start to spoil.

Have you read?

Krylon Classic Spray Paint Is Back – And That Retro Can Is Pure Craft-Room Nostalgia

Krylon Classic spray paint is officially back, complete with that wonderfully retro 5-Ball can design that will look very familiar to longtime DIYers.

I have a bit of a soft spot for companies bringing back genuinely useful old-school products rather than simply sticking “vintage” on something new, and this one ticks the nostalgia box rather nicely.

Krylon is also one of my go-to spray-paint brands for craft and DIY projects, although this particular relaunch is being discussed based on the product information rather than personal use.

But thankfully, Krylon hasn’t just recreated the old packaging.

The Retro Look Comes With a New Fast-Drying Formula

The new Krylon Classic is a lacquer-based spray paint designed specifically for quicker DIY projects.

According to Krylon, it is:

  • dry to the touch in 15 minutes or less
  • able to be recoated at any time
  • suitable for wood, metal, wicker, glass and most plastics
  • available in gloss, satin and metallic finishes
  • fitted with a large fan-style spray button for more even coverage

That recoat-anytime feature is the one that interests me most.

Anyone who has spray-painted a craft project knows the annoying moment when you realise you’ve missed a patch and then discover the instructions want you to wait another hour—or several hours—before touching it again.

Being able to keep going should make this particularly useful for those little weekend upcycling projects that somehow end up taking over the garage.

And Yes, They’ve Brought Back the Fun Colours

Krylon Classic is launching in 16 colours, including some suitably retro-sounding shades such as Gloss Sunset Orange, Gloss Icy Grape and Gloss Regal Blue.

That feels particularly timely with glossy lacquered furniture, bold colour and 1970s-inspired home décor creeping back into decorating trends.

I’m already imagining thrifted stools, old picture frames, plant stands and little side tables getting the full retro treatment.

Krylon products have featured in plenty of craft projects over the years. Our faux stone pottery bowl tutorial uses textured Krylon spray paint to turn inexpensive glass bowls into something that looks considerably more expensive.

Spray paint is also one of my favourite shortcuts for thrift-store makeovers. This framed family tree project is a good example of how quickly an ordinary wooden frame can be completely changed with paint.

And if your crafting tends to involve rocks—because apparently some of us can’t even walk past a nice smooth stone without thinking I could paint that—this collection of rock painting ideas uses Krylon Clear Glaze as a protective finish.

There’s even an old CraftGossip favourite for a Halloween candy corn candle holder made by spray-painting a glass jar or vase.

My Take on the Krylon Classic Relaunch

I think this is actually a clever relaunch.

The nostalgic can will get the attention—and I suspect quite a few people will pick it up simply because they remember it—but the fast drying time and ability to recoat whenever you like are the features that make it useful for today’s crafters.

I’m particularly interested in seeing how the lacquer finish could look on thrifted furniture and home décor pieces.

The one thing to keep in mind is that these performance details currently come from Krylon’s launch information rather than hands-on testing. If I get the opportunity to try it, I’d love to put that 15-minute drying claim to the test on a proper CraftGossip makeover.

For now, Krylon Classic is available in the US through Lowe’s stores and Lowes.com.

And I have to admit, if I spotted that retro can sitting on the shelf, I’d probably pick it up. Krylon is already one of my go-to brands for spray paint, and the vintage packaging makes this relaunch especially appealing.

Sometimes nostalgia really does come in a spray can.