Gardening with Allen: How to start a strawberry bed

My strawberry bed has become so crowded with plants that it is no longer producing much fruit. Is this a good time to start a new bed?

It is true that strawberry beds become so clogged with plants that their fruit yield drops. Strawberry plants are producing a lot of new runner plants in middle to late summer. So now is a good time to start a new bed using the new runner plants.

The first question to ask is do you have the best variety of strawberries to suit your particular needs? Most of the strawberry varieties grown commercially here are of the single-crop or long-day type. They produce a big crop of fruit for about a month or so in June to July. This is the best type if you want a big crop all at once so you can make jam or freeze some berries for later use.

The second type of strawberry bears a crop in June-July and then a second smaller crop in the fall. Although it is referred to as everbearing, there is a big gap between crops

The newest strawberry type is referred to as day-neutral or continuous bearing.

They produce a smaller amount of fruit during June and July but continue to flower and produce all summer long into the fall. If your bed is still producing fruit right now, you have this day-neutral type. Seascape is the most widely sold variety of this type in our area but others are also available. I prefer the day-neutral type because I like to be able to pick a few berries for my cereal or ice cream whenever I want.

Strawberry plants are normally available for sale only in the spring. So if you don’t have the type you want or know someone who does, you may want to rejuvenate your old bed and wait until next spring to start a new bed. To rejuvenate your current bed, remove the oldest and largest plants until plants are spaced at least 6 inches apart. Plants can be moved to get the desired spacing.

Before I plant a new bed I like to add 3 or 4 inches of bark dust or compost and till it in with a large tiller to a depth of about 8 inches. I add a pound of general purpose fertilizer like 16-16-16 and 5 pounds of lime per 100 square feet before planting.

I started a new strawberry bed in the spring with Seascape plants. I planted three rows a foot apart with plants a foot apart in the row. This allows me to reach in from either side without stepping into the bed. Those plants have been producing fruit since June. They have produced enough runner plants to fill in so they are now about 6 inches apart and I am cutting off all additional new runner plants. Next year I will remove the original plants and allow enough new runner plants to fill in. There will be enough additional runner plants to start a new bed if I want to.

Always use the newest runner plants (still attached to their larger mother plants) for a new bed. They will be the most productive.

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