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garden:about:plants:strawberries:winter

Winter care

Culling

More than thinning I removed the ever-bearing plants, then I thin and transplant the June-bearing plantsFortunately, it happens that strawberries are ready to be thinned well after I have completed all other garden activities. After cooler weather and maybe a few light frosts to harden the newest plants I thin the plants to about six per square foot.

I thin the least hardy of the plants from runners and remove the runners. Then I cover them with a straw mulch. The past two years we've had extended periods of below freezing temperatures with lows approaching 10 degrees, so I believe the precaution is appropriate.

Thinning

I'm part way through here, still need to transplant and mulch.First I took out all the plants that were in the area of the ever-bearing strawberries. This was originally about half the bed. I found a couple of other gardeners who were interested in planting them.

I wasn't pleased with the size and performance of the “ever-bearing” strawberries so I weeded them out as best I could and transplanted runners from the June-bearing plants. We'll see next August how effective I was in choosing.

Transplanting

Thinned and June-bearing transplantedThen I thinned the June-bearing plants, creating two rows to make picking easier (a lesson learned from the previous season) and transplanted some to the former location of the ever-bearing berries.


Mulching

MulchedBefore the really cold weather (low twenties and below, if I'm lucky) I took some of my rye straw, of which I have plenty at least this year, and covered the strawberry bed with at least four inches. And I forgot about the strawberry plants until spring, when I removed the straw to reveal plants that are ready to put out more runners and more fruit.

More info

garden/about/plants/strawberries/winter.txt · Last modified: 2020/04/03 21:05 by davidbac