First, look up your hardiness zone. I'm guessing zone 6, you should be able to grow lots of things there. Strawberry varieties: they're all going to taste better than the store, so don't stress about it. Perhaps choose an early and a late variety, like Earliglow and AC Valley Sunset. Do you want it for fresh eating or to make jam? You'll need lots more plants to make a year's supply of jam for your family. (100 plants? 200? More than I have room for.) For fresh eating, probably 50 plants/household of 4. It's an estimate, it depends on how much you like strawberries. Raised beds: I have cinder block and wood, and I like the wood because it's easier to build. I got terribly tired of lugging around cinder blocks. I use untreated pine wood, about 1"x8" by however long/wide a bed I need. They'll rot after a while, but I estimate 8-10 yrs. Blueberries: pots are nice, because blueberries need such acid soil or they won't grow and definitely won't bear. I have alkaline soil, and if I want my blueberries to thrive I should put them in pots. However, I also have issues with watering pots. So, they might be better off in the ground at my house. Grapes: whatever kind of trellis, make SURE it's easy to prune. Don't grow it on chain-link fence. I have grapes on an arbor, which will be lovely once it fills in. It might be challenging to prune, and grapes need severe pruning every spring. Get some books (Grape Grower by Lon Rombough is the best), you'll need to learn something about it. Wood posts with taunt wires are standard grape trellises for a good reason. People like seedless grapes a lot, I have Interlaken (green), Somerset seedless (red) and a seeded table grape called Swanson Red. I'm considering a blue like Mars, but I have access to unlimited quantities of Concord for jam, so there isn't a good reason to plant one. So, figure out what exactly you want and make some good plans. Get the infrastructure in place before planting and you'll be glad that you did. If you're a weekend warrior, perhaps just put in strawberries this year. If you're retired and have lots of time, perhaps you can handle building grape trellises too. Here is a link that might be useful: Plant hardiness zones

I just recently moved to Medicine Hat, Alberta (supposed to be zone 3b) and was planning on planting raspberries and strawberries in raised beds. Has anyone in southern Alberta planted raspberries and strawberries in raised beds and what was the outcome? Did they survive the winters? If they did survive what varieties did you plant? Thanks Leonas

You can 2 years but it really is better to treat these as an annual. we have gone 3 years on ever bearing strawberries and the 3rd year was always crappy-low quality and low yields. One thing we have done (though not as consistently as we should) is plant a new bed in the fall and put a hoophouse over it so it will flower in March and set berries by May 1st (you don't have to pull off the flowers if you fall plant as the plant will get large in fall/over winter with no flowering). Than in spring we have several beds on strawberries, some newly planted and some in their second year.

I will be planting some here in NJ in another week. They transplant best when daytime temperatures are in the 60's here. They will survive a light frost if not blossoming.