About 3 or 4 years ago I planted up a raised bed with 12 strawberry plants. At the end of each season, they put out their runners, and I have done 1 of 3 things, depending on my motivation levels:
- Cut them off
- Pot them up
- Ignore them and let them do their thing
Fast forward to this spring and I had a raised bed crammed full of strawberries, several strawberry plants in pots, and a second strawberry patch being started in the smaller plot in another part of the garden.
I’m trying to grow as much as I can this year, as I have a huge plot and live in a rural location where there are lots of people who won’t be able to get to the shops. The first step was to sow as many seed potatoes as possible in the small plot, and for this I needed to clear some of the strawberries. I decided to relocate all my many strawberry plants into one single bed, the one that is the most weed-ridden, with bindweed, nettles, docks and all sorts. My theory is that they will quickly provide good ground cover and suppress the weeds to an extent.
I am absolutely amazed by how many plants I dug up from the smaller plot and the strawberry patch. From those original 12 plants, I have dug up and re-planted over 120!! And I still have several plants left over – probably another 30 or 40 I would say – which I wanted to put on free cycle and leave at the village hall for others to collect, but I wasn’t quick enough to get that done before lockdown, so I may just cram them all in and hope for the best!
Moral of the story, if you like strawberries you should definitely start growing your own as very soon you will have an abundance!