This is the second year for the Galletta strawberries from Nourse Farms.
We got a nice little harvest off of them this year, but after the last berries are picked, you're supposed to "rejuvenate" the bed.
Now I'm not sure really what that means, or why you have to do that with June-bearing varieties but not with ever-bearing. But since the growing instructions on the Nourse Farms website said to do it, I did it.
The bed was pretty crowded, really. I started out with only 25 plants, but the space really wasn't quite big enough for that many plants. So by the time the new runners took root last summer, the plants in the bed were pretty thick.
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| The strawberry bed on May 21 prior to rejuvenation. |
First step: Cut back all of the plants to about 2", being careful not to damage the crowns.
Second step: Add a layer of composted cow manure to the bed, being careful not to cover the crowns.
Third step: Add a layer of mulch, again, taking care the the crowns aren't buried under.
I decided to mulch with some pine shavings (animal bedding) that I got from Atwoods since I didn't have any more straw (and the feed store where I buy the bales won't have any until the wheat harvest this summer) and because the pine shavings should be very slightly acidic, which I think the strawberries should appreciate.
And that was it. Give everything a good watering, and hope I didn't just kill all of my strawberry plants!!!
I shouldn't have worried though. Within days the plants were already putting out new leaves, and by June 11, the bed was filling back in very nicely.
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| The strawberry bed on June 11, after the rejuvenation process. |
I've since done a bit more reading about rejuvenation and I think I should have removed some of the smaller plants in the middle of the bed to make room for the new runners.
But since I didn't do that, I think I'll just try to root the runners in pots, so they don't make the bed even more crowded. I'll set those new plants out in the south part of the bed once I get it filled with dirt. That should give us about double the number of plants we have now.