If you are growing any plants in the Cabbage/Brassica family such as broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale and kohlrabi, you should think again before you plant strawberries next to them. Strawberries are bad companions for this veggie family.
Strawberries send off shoots/runners and can be very invasive if not controlled. When the strawberry plant sends off the runner, it grows roots and tries to take nutrients from the mother plant unless you cut the “cord” in between.  The point is if the baby strawberry plant does this to its own mother – guess what it will do to the cabbage family!
The main growing season for strawberries is in the Spring so the strawberries go after the nutrients at the same time that the cabbage family is in their peak growing season. While the cabbage family needs nitrogen for healthy growth, the strawberry plants also seek out nitrogen and put up a good fight with the cabbage family.
If you read my blog titled “Strawberries Anyone”, you will recall that I I decided to move my strawberry plants from the two whiskey barrels to the outer edge of several of the raised beds.  The only member of the cabbage family that I grew next to strawberries was broccoli. To be honest, my broccoli plants did not do as well that were growing next to the strawberries on the outer edge.
The one broccoli plant (see the picture above) that is still producing side shoots was the one growing in the middle of the bed.
