Hello!
This is my third year with strawberries here on our new "farmland."
The first year, I planted them in rows maybe 10 inches apart, per my father in-laws request. I was concerned with the weeding and not having enough room to get myself through the patch. "Let them be, they will do fine" Sure, they did fine, but I did not. It was a pain to try and sort through the plants to pull the weeds from roots (almost an 8hr day with only 200 plants) and the runners were constantly intertangling themselves with the other plants. I found myself breaking them as I untangled them. "Let them be" he said again, but as someone mentioned above, strawberries do not produce as well after a few years in the ground so I wanted to plant the runners in a seperate patch each year so I knew when patch 1 hit 4 or 5 years and was not producing that I could just till it up without worrying about ruining good productive plants.
The second year, I got a bit smarter, I planted them in rows 3 feet apart and 12 to 18 inches from each plant. Then I put down weed paper so that I could easily make it between the rows and would have less to weed. It worked much better than the first year, but halfway through the season the weeds started popping up through the weed paper. Sure, I could get thicker paper this year, but then I got to thinking...
(Third year) My husband owns a masonry business so brick, block, and stone are very common items on our land. This year, I will have the strawberries planted in block. The ground will be tilled and I will make rows of block with enough room to get a lawn tractor through if necessary. This way if weeds grow up between the rows, I can dig bunches out with a shovel instead of pulling them by hand. Each block slot will hold one plant with new dirt and since the ground is tilled if needed, the roots can continue to grow. As the plant grows, the runners will climb downward to the ground and I shouldn't have to untangle them. Last year, I pinched off all but one runner per plant, while I had a lower yield, I had bigger strawberries and healthier plants. When the runners grow their 'legs' I pin them to a small 3" pot filled with new dirt, the plants then take to that pot and grow strong healthy roots. In the fall I will snip off the runners (generally your quantity doubles each year) and replant the baby plants into their perspective block for a yield in their second year.
Of course, this is all theoretical - each year I think of something that might make my gardening life a bit easier. I will let everyone know how this year turns out!
Sincerely,
Jen
