here is some info that I compiled on strawberries, easy to do a simple google search, you'll come up with LOTS of info, also good info on the sites selling berries. NOTE THE LAST PARAGRAPH, THIS WAS NEW INFO TO ME AND VERY IMPORTANT. PLANTING STRAWBERRIES, GROWING STRAWBERRIES AND HARVESTING STRAWBERRIES Soil Preparation Strawberries require a loose, loamy, slightly acidic soil (pH 6.0-6.5) (Test your soil for pH, and then amend it if needed to raise its acidity level) and full sun to achieve peak berry quality, but they will tolerate a variety of soil conditions as long as they have adequate drainage Soil that is high in organic matter is absolutely necessary. Prepare your strawberry beds by turning under 1/2"-1" high quality, animal manure or plant residue-based compost. Compost composed of cedar or redwood is not an acceptable substitute for high quality compost. Also it is a great idea to lay mulching film on the soil as it greatly reduces the need for weeding. Planting Strawberries If you are not ready to plant your strawberries when they arrive or when you pick them up, you can store them in a refrigerator for a few days, keeping them damp (but not soggy!). When you are ready to plant, put the transplants in a bucket of water for a few minutes to rehydrate them and to keep them from drying out in the wind and sun. Dig each hole deep enough so that the transplant roots will not be bent or "j-rooted" when covered with soil. Next, prepare a soil cone at the bottom of the hole for the roots to rest upon when buried, keeping the roots as straight as possible. Finally, fill the hole with loose soil, keeping the upper crown bud at or slightly above the soil line, as plants will die if the crowns are completely covered. Once planted, strawberries will spread by producing "runners" where leaf cluster tips touch the ground. (not all varieties will spread out as vigorously and many varieties can be "groomed" to minimize their spreading by removing the runners from the mother plant) If Runners are removed, they can be planted to start a new plant. Growing Strawberries Strawberries need a minimum of six hours of sun per day. Give all strawberry varieties 1" of water per week, preferably using drip-type irrigation to minimize berry spoilage and keep the beds thoroughly weeded! After the first frost, mulch beds with straw or agricultural fabrics. Where snow remains on the ground throughout the Winter, no mulching is required. When the ground warms in Spring, remove any organic mulches, but leave agricultural fabrics on until the first flowers appear; fabrics will speed growth but prevent pollination if left on during blossoming. All strawberry varieties are prone to diseases caused by overly moist soil conditions and overcrowding, so plan ahead and give them enough room. Soil must be kept loose and well drained, plants must be properly spaced and ripe or moldy fruit picked daily. Snails and slugs can be a significant problem, but are contrulled using traps and copper strip-barriers. Netting, scare ballons and flash tape work very well against birds. Harvesting Strawberries Plants generally grow 6"-8" tall and 12" across. Yield under the best of conditions is about a basket per plant per season. Bird netting is recommended if you do not want to lose too many berries to our winged friends. It is important to practice proper "picking hygiene" when harvesting berries as disease can be easily spread if good fruit is handled after bad fruit. Always wash hands after removing moldy, deformed or over-ripe fruit and then harvest your good berries. Pick ripe strawberries by pinching through the stem above the fruit. Never pull on the berry itself. All strawberries will last several days under refrigeration. Drainage Strawberries hate sitting in water. They need consistent moisture, but will rot if the site drains poorly. If your site has poor drainage, consider building a raised bed. Selecting a Strawberry Type When you go to order or purchase your strawberry plants, you'll discover that they are classified into three types: June-bearing, ever-bearing, and day- neutral. Each type has its strengths and weaknesses, and will produce at different times during the season. June-bearing: As the name suggests, June-bearing varieties bear all of their fruit in June. You can purchase early, mid, or late season varieties, but all that means is that they will produce sometime in early, mid, or late June. These plants grow quite large and develop long runners, so they work well in a dedicated strawberry patch, where their runners can grow into new plants. These produce a large crop all at one time. June-bearing varieties won't produce fruit until their second season of growth. Ever-Bearing: Ever-bearing strawberries produce fruit from late spring until early fall. They will regularly develop fruit, but never very much at any one time. The plants stay fairly small, and don't produce vigorous runners. With ever-bearing varieties, you'll be able to harvest berries in your first season. Day-Neutral: Day-neutral varieties regularly produce fairly decent crops of berries from spring until fall, with a fairly large crop in the fall. The plants stay small, but produce vigorously. The only drawback to day-neutral varieties is that they don't do well in areas with very hot summers. As with ever-bearing varieties, day-neutrals will produce berries in their first season of growth. Strawberry Patch Maintenance Water Strawberries don't like to sit in water, but they also need fairly consistent water available to them. This is why well-drained soil is so important. Strawberries require one inch of watter per week to produce fruit. They are shallow-rooted, and if the soil dries out too much, fruit production will halt. Mulching, as mentioned above, also helps keep the soil moisture level more consistent. Fertilizing Strawberries need constant nutrition to maintain fruit yields. Feed your strawberry plants once per month from June to September with blood meal and bone meal. In addition to the watering and fertilizing, it is important to keep your strawberry patch weed free, especially since weeds will steal moisture and nutrients from your shallow-rooted strawberries very quickly. Keep your berries harvested, and remove any rotting fruit immediately. Pest and Disease Control Happily, strawberries have very few pest problems, but the ones they do have can be a real pain. The biggest pest for any berry grower is that of the feathered variety. Birds like nothing better than to devour fresh berries. They always seem to get to mine right before they're ripe enough to pick. To keep birds off of your berries, simply cover the plant or your entire patch with netting. You can purchase bird netting in any home and garden center. The other main pests of strawberries are slugs and snails. They find strawberry foliage absolutely delectable. To keep them away, the best thing to do is install copper edging around the perimeter of your bed. Slugs and snails won't cross copper because it creates an electric reaction when it comes into contact with their slime. As far as diseases go, the most prevalent one among strawberry plants is verticillium wilt. .This fungal disease will not only prevent fruit production, but it will also kill the plant. There is no way to control it once your plants show signs of infection. The only remedy is to pull the plants out and start over in a new area. The best way to avoid having to deal with it is to choose varieties that are certified as being resistant to verticillium wilt. Once you have your strawberry plants planted and growing happily, you'll be enjoying the fruits of your labor for years on end, with very little maintenance on your part Strawberries are one of the best plants to grow in containers and even do well indoors. All they need is a sunny spot where they can get at least six to eight hours of sunlight a day. If you don't have a sunny enough window for them, they can be supplemented with artificial sunlight. To get the best results, you will need to choose the right type of strawberry and plant it correctly. You should also trim off any older leaves from the plant and remove all flowers and runners. Roots should be trimmed so they are about 4 to 5 inches in length and any damaged areas removed. Then, place the roots in water for an hour immediately before planting. The plant should be placed in the soil so the crown of the plant is even with the soil's surface and the roots fan out. For the first six weeks after planting, remove all blossoms on everbearing and day-neutral plants by either pinching or cutting them. This will give them time to be established before expending energy towards growing fruit. Water your plants every day until the growing season, and then reduce your watering to when the top inch of soil has become dry. Strawberries should be fertilized at least once a month. However, once it is has begun flowering, fertilize it about every 10 days until harvest season is over. They prefer a fertilizer that is high in potassium like tomato feed. No matter where you plant them, they will need at least six hours of sunlight a day to produce a harvestable crop, although full sun is better. Make sure hanging baskets are rotated to ensure that all plants get adequate light. Strawberries are prone to both aphids and red spider mites. For either case, an appropriate insecticide will need to be used. Strawberries can also develop powdery mildew. If your strawberry plant has purple spots on the top surface of its leaves and white fungus on the bottom side, it has developed powdery fungus and needs to be treated with a fungicide. A final note on planting: don't plant strawberries in or near an area that is currently growing tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, eggplants, or raspberries. These plants can harbor verticillium wilt, which can infect strawberry plants

Might work fairly OK at first but should not be bothered with if planting is intended to last for more than one or maybe two seasons. Straw would go on top of fabric.  Geotextiles are not effective weed control solutions for permanent landscapes  Landscape fabrics used in permanent landscape installations will eventually become a high maintenance issue in terms of appearance, weed control, and landscape plant health  Organic mulches are preferred alternatives for permanent landscape installations as they can be reapplied throughout the life of the landscape without damaging the existing plantings Here is a link that might be useful: The Myth of Landscape Fabric

I have been growing red alpines for around twenty years. Difficulty level starting plants from seed is similar to impatiens. Very fragile plants for the first few weeks but once they take off they are very hardy and grow fast. Plants started from seed will produce berries the first year, but later in the season when they have grown large enough. I really like alpines but sure wish the plants could be just a bit more productive. Each year I transplant quantity 6 one-year-old alpine strawberry plants from the garden bed into a half barrel planter that has a shallow insert. Arrangement is one plant in the center and five around the outside. This number of plants ends up filling out the entire space, any more and they would be too thick and there could be disease issues such as powdery mildew. By the end of the season the crowns are easily three to four inches in diameter and the roots fill the entire barrel insert. At season's end I transplant the plants back into the garden bed and use new one year old plants next season. Berry production on these six plants continues the entire length of the season, but there seems to be a slowdown during high summer. Harvest from the barrel averages around 15 strawberries every three days or so, ranging from 10 to 20 on any given harvest. Not a lot, but enough for fresh berries on the breakfast cereal every couple days. The strawberry flavor is very nice, far more flavorful than the insipid oversize monstrosities from the grocery store. I do the barrel just to have some plants up by the house for decoration and for convenient picking of some nice clean berries. My main production comes from the bed in the garden, where I can harvest a pint or so every three days if the birds do not get them. Needless to say, do not expect a huge amount of berries to harvest per plant at any given time, but you certainly will enjoy them. Wishing the best! -Tom

Commercial gardens here use black plastic or woven cloth, but pea straw is sold to home growers to mulch between their strawberries. I found it HOPELESS - the birds arrived en masse to get their free nest building material, and what they dropped as they flew off with a beak full just blew around the rest of the garden. I'm still traumatised. Now I use a Mulch & Feed product in the vege garden, a weed free bark mulch combined with blood&bone, sheep pellets, compost, etc. Once it's been watered or rained on a couple of times, all the fine particles are rinsed down and the surface is mostly clean bark. So the strawberries stay clean, the weeds are suppressed (what does grow pulls out easily) and the soil beneath is fed. I guess you could get the clean strawberries using straight bark mulch, but my understanding is that can then rob the soil of nitrogen as it breaks down? Having the other components in there counteracts that, and the soil is lovely and rich. Been doing this several years now and am still happy with it.