Strawberries as living mulch?

I'm going to be experimenting with living mulch this year in my "balcony food forest" and would appreciate feedback.

I want this thread to be useful for lots of people, not just for me, so if you have comments that don't apply to my situation but might apply to other people, please go ahead.

I was inspired a few years ago by a video from the UK of someone who planted a food forest with loads of different berries among other things, and used strawberries as a living mulch throughout. That accidentally led them to set up a side business with organic jams. Can't find that video now, but here is a similar one.



My main goal with living mulch is to retain moisture in the soil and protect from the blazing sun. Also, obviously, be nice to the main crop. Strawberries have the advantage of being perennial too, so no need to replant annually. And then there's the "stacking fuctions" bonus too... strawberries! The main crop I care about is tomatoes, and the main problem with tomatoes here is late blight (phytophthora infestans), so air circulation as fungus prevention is key.

My situation: I'm growing in grow bags and small planters on a long, narrow southish-facing urban balcony that gets blazing hot in the summer. I have zero problem with snails and slugs, which is a new situation for me! The soil is bagged stuff I mixed myself. A big problem for me is evaporation. The smallish planters sit directly in the sun and can overheat very quicly if the soil is dry. The big (40L / 10 gal) grow bags are made to allow air permeation which is good to keep the plants from getting root-bound but also allows more evaporation.

One fear: The sun might be too much for the strawberry plants. Though I had some in planters last year and they mostly survived (a few died from rot in rainy periods but it doesn't seem like the sun killed any). We will disappear for a couple of weeks in the summer and someone will come every few days to water plants, but not daily and not thoroughly, just what they're willing to do. Last year it wasn't a disaster.

Any notes from experience on strawberries as living mulch, or any better ideas folks might have, are great. Thank you!

I have in smaller patches. It works very well as a ground cover. Even in shaded areas, but won't make many berries in shade. Mine eventually got mostly crowded out by violets.

Hi Dave,
Around here strawberries do not do very well competing with other things. They can certainly help keep the moisture in, but grass like to choke them out at the drop of a hat. Or just about any weed. They also take a decent amount of care to produce a large crop.

I wonder how rhubarb would grow in your climate? That is vigorous, grows large, and you can harvest it at the end of hte season. Cook with the stalk and lay the leaves down as more mulch.

This seems like a good idea to me. I use strawberries as groundcover as well, with deciduous over story plants that shade them midday midsummer sun. Around annuals and newly planted trees, the strawberries are a good water indicator, showing when they are in need and their neighbors probably are too (comfrey also works for this, and both help a lot with their wilting notifying house-sitters when to water). They went well with grape vines, but like tomatoes, these do require a lot of calcium which strawberries need as well. So in the ground I’d encourage Ca accumulators like dock and dandelion. In pots, I’d supplement with organic calcium like oyster shell, or possibly something with magnesium as well, which can be put into vinegar for a few weeks to feed in liquid form at low concentrations (500:1 or less). Compost teas with this or yoghurt/kefir (for microbes, calcium and N) can be applied foliarly too with several times the efficiency of soil, but higher risk of burning.

I use alpine strawberries that way in my wicking barrels.  I plan to dig some field strawberries for  my larger diameter barrels.  You could try making a slit in the side of the fabric planters to cover the sides in the sun. The alpines cover the sides of these tall barrels with runners over the summer.