Strawberries might lack flavor for several reasons. If the flavor is consistently drab from year to year, it could be the variety that you are growing; some are developed more high yield and tolerating processing/shipping rather than for flavor. If flavor varies each year, it could be too much or too little water, or not enough sunlight. Check your soil, too. Make sure that the bed has plenty of nutrients and the soil is slightly acidic. Sandy soil is great for providing proper drainage. Allow each plant plenty of room to grow.

Strawberries sometimes develop oddly due to various factors, including damage from insects such as the tarnished plant bug or mites, or frost or heat injury, nutrient deficiencies (such as boron), chemical injury, etc. Poor pollination can also affect development. Another factor can be that the variety is not suited to the climate where it is grown, meaning that it does not have the proper length of daylight or the right temperatures.

Strawberries generally produce the best fruit when in full sun, but in hot and sunny areas like Phoenix, they will appreciate some afternoon shade instead (especially if their leaves are getting burnt up). You could also try some light-colored mulches, like straw or white plastic, to hold in more moisture around your strawberry plants.

Katrina, remember one thing: You can’t fool Mother Nature (or her critters). Try netting on your berries; a lot of people use that to deter the birds and squirrels and, for the record, bunnies. And set up a pinwheel or other moving object of that sort. Think aluminum pie plates on a string, glittery dangling Christmas ornaments—even large scarecrows. (Situations like this is why people have been using scarecrows for centuries.) Be aware, however, that you might need a few such objects that you set up and move around; the critters realize pretty quickly that these are inanimate and pose no threat. You might scatter red pepper around … but you don’t want that on the berries you eat. Another idea is to have a radio playing, especially tuned to a talk show; this has been known to deter some critters. All of these—and similar—ideas usually work … for a while. It’s a challenge we all face.

Lemon balm and strawberries can happily co-exist in the same bed. No worries there.

To grow strawberries, the matted row technique is tried and tested, and should work well. In the first year after planting, remove any runners to give the plants time to establish.

Strawberries can be planted in a bed mixed with other plants, as long as they have room and full sun. If space is limited, you’ll need to remove any (or at least, most) runners that develop; depending on variety, strawberries can be invasive and crowd out other plants if not kept in check (by removing runners). In a vegetable bed, strawberries do not do well with members of the cabbage family (cabbage, broccoli, etc.), but enjoy beans, lettuce, spinach, and onion as neighbors, as well as some herbs such as borage or caraway. Strawberries are susceptible to verticillium fungus–you might want to avoid planting it near other vegetables that are susceptible, such as tomatoes.

Strawberries are rarely grown from seed by the backyard gardener. The only reason you would seed is perhaps to propagate a rare variety. You normally buy them as small plants. However, if you wish to try growing strawberries from seed, keep in mind that they take a month to germinate and they will not produce until the following years.