Speed-Raising Your Strawberry Crop!

 What can you do when your strawberry beds are pretty much played out, but you haven’t started any crowns for next year?

This summer, I found myself in this exact situation: our garden had only one strawberry bed (which was marginal at best), and the other three beds were completely petered out. This past spring, I had never found the time to buy any new crowns, much less plant them.

I was left with two options. I could either resign myself to no berries next spring…or start my own crowns!

But first, a little about growing strawberries:

Strawberries are one of those crops that require a fair amount of planning. In early spring, you plant bare-root strawberry crowns from the nursery, and keep your baby plants well-watered and mulched that summer and fall while they develop their root systems. Any flowers they produce, you pinch off—so the plant is continuing to put its energy in the roots, and not in fruiting.

The following spring, the now vigorous plants will begin to sprout flowers, and soon you’ll see fruit setting! Once established, the plants should bear for the next few seasons.

Strawberry runners in pots

Earlier this month, I blogged about trying a new strawberry-growing technique. This new (for me) method involved potting this summer’s strawberry runners.

Strong “mother” plant setting runners

I got the idea when I found a really vigorous volunteer in the garden that was producing gigantic berries. Not only that, but after bearing, this plant began sending out very sturdy runners, which were taking root nearby.  

Before I knew it, this plant had gifted me with at least eight new baby strawberry plants. A great start for next spring, they should eventually fill this bed. But eight plants is definitely not enough for a decent crop.

Then I noticed this strong “mother” plant was continuing to pump out additional runners, besides the ones that had already taken root. I had a brainwave: I could plant these new runner ends in pots, and let the roots develop in the pots. Once the roots of each plant were established, I could cut the runner, and replant the new plant in a fresh bed!

That’s exactly what I’ve done. Last week, I filled lots of little pots with garden soil and a little well-composted chicken manure for some organic matter. I then set a runner end into each pot.

In the photo, you’ll see little rocks in the pots. Long ago, John came up with the idea to weigh the runner end down with a small stone, so the runner has contact with the soil from the get-go, and that works even better.

Now producing crowns for another bed!

I do have one marginal strawberry bed—its best years are done, but the plants have sent out a few fairly good runners. So I started six more runner pots going in this bed, and today, I’ll check out a bunch of strawberry volunteers in my bee balm. If there are any runners worth potting, I’ll start some new plants there as well.

My plan for these pots: I’ll let the plants’ roots grow for the next month and a half, into early fall. Then, before the first frost in October, I’ll transplant the new crowns into a bed to winter over, top dressed with lots of compost and mulch. By spring (fingers-crossed) the new plants will be ready to start growing in earnest.

Instead of mourning a summer without strawberries in 2023, I’m now full of hope for a crop, and eager to see how well these home-grown crowns bear fruit!

Vertical Tomatoes and Other New Gardening Techniques

This summer, John and I are aiming to kick our efficiency and productivity up a notch in our food garden. He first saw vertical tomato growing on Pinterest this past winter, and we were both intrigued. 

Most tomatoes require staking of some kind. You might use commercial cages, or build some kind of support for each plant. All the years we’ve been raising tomatoes, John had created quite an elaborate structure for every plant with poles/small tree boughs going every which way, tying the poles and boughs together with string. Then tying the tomato plant to the structure as it grew. 

It works great, but efficient it is not! Tomato structure building and maintenance has been one of the more time-consuming chores in our food garden. Plus, when you keep all the side growth, you’ve got a large portion of the plant close to the ground. 

First of all, you end up with lots of tomatoes sitting on the soil. Second, all that growth near the ground encourages blight.

Vertical tomato structure

Vertical tomatoes have proved to be a vast improvement! You cut off the low and side growth, and train the plant upward. 

According to Brett L. Markam, author of “Mini-Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre,” this vertical growth has what he calls a “3-D” effect on the plant: it can then grow in 3 dimensions, with increased access to sunlight and nutrients. 

It’s also very labor saving, compared to our previous structures. Once you’ve got your vertical pole and string in place, you just nip the side growth every once in a while and you’re good to go.

Another new-to-us method: raising onion sets. 

I’m not trying this on purpose—it’s more an unhappy accident: the onion seedlings I planted back in April were thriving…I’d kept them well-watered and mulched. Then in mid-July, I weeded them thoroughly. All good, right? But my fatal error: I didn’t water the bed immediately afterward.

Then we had a heat wave.

Well, those poor onions went straight downhill. I think I’d disturbed the roots too much—for onions you’re growing from seedlings, the roots are still really delicate even months after planting. Yesterday, I saw the tops of many onions were dying back—there was no chance for the bulbs to grow to a harvestable size.

So I decided to make lemonade out of lemons! I’ve harvested a few of the dead-top onions, which have very small bulbs. I’ll store them in a cool, well-ventilated spot, and plant them in early spring. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Strawberries…well, our crop this year was minuscule. The strawberries in the bed right under a solar panel didn’t like rainwater pouring down on them all winter and just gave up the ghost. The other 3 beds simply weren’t that productive—but I didn’t realize that until harvesting this June.

We should have replaced those beds back in early spring—August is definitely not the right time to put in new strawberry crowns for next year.

In our climate, you plant new strawberry crowns around March, for a June harvest the following year.  Since we dropped the ball this past spring (urgent family matters took us away from our place), we’ll be out of luck next June.

But wait! I (think) I’ve found an easy solution. One strawberry volunteer from the dead strawberry bed took up residence in the bed next to it and absolutely thrived. Then I noticed the plant put out lots of really strong runners this summer!

Those runners have rooted, creating new crowns! Here’s a pic of what will be my 2023 strawberries.

Plant in center sent out several strong runners

And happily, we’ve got strawberry volunteer plants all over the yard. Like I said, it’s not practical to try and transplant them. But, you can check for runners, clear a little spot for them to take root. Or, set the end of the runner in a pot of mixed soil and compost, and keep it watered. 

One of my chores today will be to locate more runners on my existing strawberry plants, and get those ends in pots. I’ll share a photo once they get going!