In my opinion, strawberries, like many fruit and veg, just seem to taste juicier and better when you’ve grown them yourself. So, every winter I like to ensure we have a good strawberry patch set up to enjoy in summer. Sometimes that means creating a whole new strawberry patch and other years I just top up my existing patch with new plants.

This year at Awapuni Nurseries we have two varieties of strawberries available to order. Both varieties (Camerosa and Ventana) are what we would describe as good home-garden varieties that produce sweet, medium to large-sized fruit but the Ventana strawberries have more of a conical shape to them. Some gardeners like specific varieties, but if you’re starting out and have no preference we would recommend any of these varieties.

Each regular-sized bundle has around four plants which should produce between 60 -100 strawberries come Christmas. I recommend planting as many strawberry plants as you can fit – I don’t think you can ever have too many strawberries!

Once you’ve got your plants you need to decide where to plant them. The great thing about strawberries is they can be grown in pretty much any sized garden. Maybe you’re lucky enough to have a big raised garden box you can grow them in. But if you’re not, there are still plenty of options for growing strawberries. They grow well in hanging baskets, cut-off drain pipes, pots, wooden pyramids and more. There are loads of ideas for strawberry growing on Pinterest.

As long as they can see the sun, and where you’re planting is well-drained, you can expect healthy-growing plants that produce lots of fruit.

When you’ve found just the right spot or spots, prepare the soil by digging in a general fertiliser that’s rich in potassium. Something like Tui Strawberry Food already has the extra potassium – this will help stimulate plant growth and big, juicy fruit.

If you’re planting in a pot or hanging basket, use a good potting mix and an extra boost of liquid fertiliser or again just use one of the Tui strawberry products.

Before planting in the garden raise your bed by mounding the soil. This will encourage circulation, drainage and can add depth to shallow soil.

Plant your seedlings around the edges of your garden or pots to encourage the strawberries to hang over the sides and prevent the fruit from touching the ground and rotting.

Dig a hole 10cm deep and place the seedling inside. A deep hole is required to give the roots plenty of room to spread out and grow but be careful not to bury the plant. Pack the soil firmly around each seedling and surround it with pea straw or newspaper to help keep away weeds.

Place netting or wire over your plants when they begin to produce fruit. This will block out birds and ensure you get to eat the strawberries yourself.

In spring, add another dose of general fertiliser or Tui Strawberry Food to your strawberries to encourage sturdier plants that are more disease resistant heading into the warmer months.

Come Christmas you'll be able to put your strawberries to the test and decide for yourself whether home-grown really does taste better.  And remember your strawberry plants will be most productive in their second year.