small gardening question

[JeremyCampbell]

I started some strawberries last Yr in a 6x6 garden below the ground and I had some grow but is it true that they come back every year and spread? I was told that I wasn't to expect much last yr because I had just planted them and that the next yr would be more fruitful.

[pushbutton]

As with any perennial there is a chance of die off in the winter, but would suspect they will be back up this spring. In the future to almost completely ensure them surviving you should water them in the fall before freeze up and mulch them. It is actually not the crazy cold that often does them in, rather the freezing and thawing that can sometimes occur in late winter that can be the most tough on them. Having said that, I personally do not do anything to mine.

The variety planted will determine how many "runners" they will produce. June bearing types produce the most shoots. Ever Bearing and Day Neutral varieties do not produce as many runners and are probably better suited to smaller spaces. If you do have June Bearing though, not that big of a deal, just make sure you thin out the 3 year old plants in the spring.

[CANOPY SAM]

Ditto on what PB says, I would also add to hit them with a little granular fertilizer each fall, along with a good watering. Then, if you can, cover them with 6-10 inches of straw, just to make sure they weather the winter well.

Take most of the straw back off in the spring, after the hard cold nights are gone, but leave a little on the ground below the plants. A nice layer of straw base helps to keep the plants moist, as well as leaving a nice little blanket for your fruit to lie on rather then laying in the dirt.

Man I can't wait for the first strawberries! We've been cultivating hundreds of new plants each year for 5 years now, and we're picking our crops by the 5-gallon buckets each day now!

[JeremyCampbell]

The only thing I did before winter is I put my boat and trailer over it and I been feeding the garden once a week all yr round with my rabbits manure.I'm just an amateur ,3yr gardener.I'm kinda doing a test with the manure to see the before and after of the soil from this

[Nainoa]

I started some strawberries last Yr in a 6x6 garden below the ground and I had some grow but is it true that they come back every year and spread? I was told that I wasn't to expect much last yr because I had just planted them and that the next yr would be more fruitful.

My SOP with Strawberries...

In Late summer/Early fall, I'll spy for any runners that have gone too far astray and try to move them in large dirt balls to a better place in the ever extending row.

Later I'll water them before the first real freeze and cover them with mulch/straw. Or you can even put down a tarp (I'm a tarp hoarder) and cover them with leaves, then fold up the tarp and compost the leaves for the next year. (Just don't compost your 2012 leaves into 2013's garden... 2012's leaves compost into the soil in 2014 etc...)

If early winter is light on snow, it's not a bad idea to shovel some extra snow on top of them. Snow is a nice insulator, from those -20 windchills that bite in January etc...

I've got my snow blower figured out, to the point where I can hit the row perfectly from the driveway!

Then when you get to April... At least a normal April... Shovel the snow off on each side of the row so the sun is beating on the soil. (In theory an industrious man would clear all the snow off his garden to start letting the soil heat up)

But if you still have snow on the strawberry row and exposed soil on each side then the snow will melt off into soil as it thaws and improve your soil moisture and temps.

Once it's exposed, remove all the mulch and let the sun beat on the strawberry soil.

Then I'll go out and buy a fertilizer that's high in phospherous (The second number) and water the entire row with a double dose. This is especially handy for June Bearing strawberries as they do all their fruit production in one 4-6 week window.

Once they reblossom their leaves and shoots I'll place straw around them. The straw is important because the longer you keep the soil cool the longer the Strawberries will produce.

So when choosing your location try for something that has morning sun but dappled shade in the afternoon and you just might be able to get berries all the way to the Fourth of July!