Strawberries

Hello,

I have a strawberry bed containing about 25 plants. It's not producing much fruit, but the plants only went in last autumn, so am I right in thinking next year will be more productive?
I don't really have space in the bed for more plants to was going to try to train the runners into pots to plant on elsewhere - should I do this from this year, or should I be removing runners as soon as they appear with the plants being young?

Any other tips for good yields next year much appreciated

 

Over the last 4 years (yep, just 4 years), my dad has gone from about 10 young plants in a stackable strawberry planter in his back garden to approximately half his allotment full of them. Mind, to be fair, he did by a pack of six unusual ones last year to add to the mix.

For the first couple of years it was a bit hit and miss, because he hadn't figured out what to do with the runners or anything, so he was still learning

After that, he had them all in neat rows, and as the runners coming out, he gently coaxes them into the row that they came from, so that over the last couple of years the rows have become more densely occupied.

Last autumn I helped him expand his plantation. All we did was dug out whole patches at intervals from each row, and used them to start new rows. The gaps we left very quickly filled back in.

For the last 2 years, his plantation has been producing plenty of strawberries for all of us, plus enough for 'ad-hoc' grazing while working down there.

 

We have forty plants now from an original six. This year we have been organised and planted them into rows. So far this year we have propagated about forty more runners - a maximum of two per plant - and now all the new runners I see I pull out to encourage the plants to put their energy into fruit from now on.

I root the propagated runners in 3" pots which I bury into the ground as this keeps them cool and moist. I pin the leaf buds down with a large fencing staple and cut the umbilical cord after about six weeks once the runners are well rooted. Sometimes the runners themselves will put out a runner which I cut off.

At the end of the sumer I will re-pot the peopagated strawberies and keep them in the polytunnel over winter to plant out into a new prepared row next spring.

The plan is to plant up one row a year until we have four rows and then plant the strawberry plants propagated from the fourth row back into the first row so we have a four year rotation.

 

Sounds a good plan Would it be an idea to introduce some different varieties to spread the season as well?

 

Just wondering why not plant them in their final position in open ground in autumn instead of next spring? Winter does nothing to strawberries, and by getting them in position this year instead of next, they'll be settled in ready by next spring, and you wont lose 6 weeks or so while they find their feet in a new home, because they'll have already done that bit.

 

Yes - I think the trouble was last year I just didn't get time to do them in the autumn. I'm only home at weekends and the beds need preparing etc so - that is something that I will aspire to but if not - then winter in the cote de polytunnelle it is