What Would You Do? Strawberry Bed

Hello All,
I used to be a member here years ago. My have things changed. Now a good portion of the site is subscription only. So, until I have a few bucks, I'll need to post this here :-)

I have a strawberry bed (4'x8') in serious need of help. It was planted 3 years ago with a flat (24 plants) of ever bearing berries. We've only ever gotten about a handful of berries out of these and that was in the 2nd year.

Last year, due to sever health issues, we did not plant a garden and the bed was sorely neglected. It is now full of grass, runners and many dead plants. I'm of the notion to just dig up all the plants and transfer them to a new bed. Thinkng that it would be easier than trying to pull all the grass/weeds without pulling up the straw. plants.

I've attached pictures of the matted mess for you all the take a look at. And I'd really like to hear what you would do in the same situation.

Blessed Be,
GW

If it were me I'd start pulling grass and forget about moving the berries. You don't have to do it all in one sitting.
My reasoning being : The berries look pretty well established in their current location and seem to be spitting out runners at a healthy pace. Even if you don't get the roots of the grass, which would be ideal, the strawberries will soon go on their spring spurt and dramatically expand. If you're able to get the grass below the tops of the berries leaves the shade will help to kill off the grass. A high nitrogen diet will encourage leaf growth.
Of course I can see the other side of the coin too. Strawberries are pretty shallow rooted plants and are pretty easy to move and expect to survive. And speaking to the yield issue, if you have a sunnier spot in mind it might be advantageous to relocate the bed. The more light the better, obviously. But then there's the effort required to prepare the new location to be taken into consideration.

Either way there's work involved, and they're probably of equal intensity. And I suppose my typewritten meanderings were of no help at all, but I hope I might have given you some food for thought.

And BTW - aren't the few sweet, red berries you're able to snatch before the birds just the best thing you could ever put in your mouth?!?

Hi Tylersays,
Thanks for your reply. I appreciate your interest in my situation.

The bed is situated in full sun, so moving it is not an issue. And we only ever got a small handful of berries once the 2nd year. We've never gotten any before that or since. They were small, but they were very sweet and such a treat compared to store bought commercal ones.

My only concern with trying to pull all the grass, is that I may end up pulling out the strawberry plants at the same time as the weeds are SO densely grown into all the plants. But maybe the bed could use some thinning.

I'm also concerned with how to bring new life back into this bed. How can I get this bed to start producing again. If it is a lost cause, I'd just as soon rip them all out and use the space for another edible plant. After watching Food, Inc. we are working on buying as little as possible from the "big box" stores. So, garden space must be used as efficiently as possible :-)

So, do I cut off all the runners? Do I fertilize? If so, with what? What do strawberries prefer?
Thanks in advance for the advice :)

You know what just hit me? why not pull the plants that can be saved and work the bed with a hoe? This would give you the opportunity to amend the soil with some compost, etc. Then you could just drop the plants back in the same space.

Or you could dedicate the area to a more productive species to your liking.

And I hear you on the harvest issue. There's a lot of real estate involved in growing strawberries for only a little pay off. Maybe a few tomatoes and a couple of bush beans and you give the strawberries away on Craigslist?

I don't know. Your call!

What I would do is: if you have plenty of space establish a new bed for the strawberries, once they become over grown it's very difficult to pull the weeds. My bed was taken over by wild violets and few years ago and I need a new one.

Till the soil for the new bed and add any compost that you have, I'm fortunate to have rotted cow manure. Ammend the soil, get it ready for planting and then cover it with clear plastic and leave it alone for 6 months.

The heat from the sun will make the weed seeds sprout and die under the plastic. Your soil will become sterilized and it is great, very few if any weeds. I've been doing this for two years and can highly recommend it.

Buy a big roll of plastic which costs around $40, I get mine from Family Center, you will need to secure it firmly which is a problem. I use long boards and roll the plastic around it along the edges of the bed. Make certain that the top of your bed is flat, clods will give the wind a chance to blow under the plastic.

Enjoy any berries from your present bed while the new one is cooking.

I've had no problems sterizling the soil, the worms love it, they grow huge.

I had the same thing happen to me, I did a little of both suggestions. Pulled as many weeds as possible- little by little all last summer, cut off some runners and established a new bed last fall with the new runners. This spring the new bed is coming along- not too many berries and the old bed is giving a few too. I plan on continuing to use runners to make the new bed and when it is full killling (yikes) the old bed. I have clover so tight I can't pull out the clover without uprooting berries, but I can get the new little runners.I f I had the $ I would just scrap the old bed and buy new plants, but I don't so .......

We picked 12 great berries yesterday!! I'd have more if the sun hadn't suddenly died over Virginia this week. It's been overcast and rainy pretty much since last Thursday/Friday and I am so frustrated!!! Sure - I've filled my 420gallons of rain barrels, could have done it two or three times actually. But at this point I can't do any work in the yard - which is killing me!!!!!
Our bed started itself, believe it or not.
Our original bed, planted some 20 years ago, fell to disuse and disrepair as job demands increased and left little to no time to work the beds. Our original bed was near the edge of the yard and the woods expanded to consume the plot. It was pretty much given up for dead as we just didn't have time to properly cultivate it. Well apparently over the course of time the plants managed to crawl across the lawn and 3 years ago found another bed. The bed had a few perennials and some weeds. It's an over sized "ring", not circular though, surrounding a Magnolia and was used with annuals for color and to fill it out in the summer. Once we realized it was a true strawberry, and not the common "snakeberry" as we call them around here, we encouraged their growth. We just kept relocating the runners so they were in the bed and working towards filling the rest in. Of course we did some weeding and didn't plant the annuals we normally would have. Also some light feeding with Miracle Grow. By the end of the second year they had grown to thinly fill the brightest spot of this particular bed. Still there were weeds, which we worked on but not to the Nth degree or anything. Again lightly fed with Miracle Grow. Here we are in year three and the plants are huge and put forth a few hundred blooms I'd estimate. If only I'd get a berry for each!! The leaves of the largest plants are probably 8-10 inches tall! And the best part - there are very few weeds in the area where the berries are growing. Along the fringes - yes. But in the berry patch proper, very few.
A couple of things I wish I had done this season are to have fertilized early in the season with a blend designed to encourage fruit growth. And to have put down a thin layer of straw as the plants were starting to emerge. This would have helped suppress a few weeds and would have given a nice resting place to the fruiting stems that are now laying over after being beaten with rain Monday.

Man were those berry's sweet!!!

Strawberry plants are pretty hardy little suckers. Even the mature plants with weeds growing in them can be pulled up. Once you get the roots up just loosen the soil and you should be able to remove the offending weed easily - roots and all. Once you've re-planted the strawberry and watered it in I'd say it has a better than 80% chance of living with very little attention. I pulled three out of the yard a couple of weeks ago, plucked some clover and grass out of the little root system and put them back in the bed. All three are doing fine with no special attention.