Recommend a full season of strawberries?
The griff
Posts: 2
i was given some strawberry plants last year and planted them in 2 big half barrels. Over winter they got water logged and I had lost hope of anything happening with them this year, I thought they were dead until they sprung to life in the spring.
We have had quite a good crop off them and are just starting to become ripe now but haven't flowered any more so I am presuming I will only get one crop off them. Not sure of the variety, but I would say they are small to medium in size.
Next year I would like a good crop of strawberries and would like to forward plan for this now as runners are readily available. Am I correct in thinking by planting runners now they may get established better for next year and possibly give me a better crop next season rather than planting them in spring next year?
I would like recommendations for different variaties I can plant including the time of year they will produce fruit and the length of the fruiting period. I was hoping to get a crop of quality fruit for as longer period as possible. I aren't that bothered about variaties that will produce tiny fruit, but would love to here about variaties you have grown that produce large fruit And also varieties that produce decent size fruit over a longer period of time.
I plan to make room for about 30-40 plants.
Posts
I don't know many of the answers, but I can share my experience. My brother gave me 18 plants last year. I got a reasonable crop, but the strawbs were quite small (don't know the variety). I let the runners do what they wanted and grow where they liked. This year the fruit from the original plant is much bigger and those from the runners are smaller. So far I have been eating strawbs prob for a month
You can extend the fruiting period with cloches, this will give you earlier and/or later fruit.
There are so many varieties, its hard to know which to go for, if i was you, i would go to your local allotment and ask them, if they thrive on an allotment, they will do well in your garden.
In relation to the runners, yes its a good way to increase stock, but it will probably be a couple of years before you get a good crop
When starting my strawb bed I bought a selection of early, mid and late varieties. In its third year this year (so I am expecting the crop to lessen next year), however all the varieties seem to be fruiting at the same time! I know that some of the plants have 'walked' via runners but I dont hold out much hope for a particularly late crop.
Second strawb bed started last year ready to take over from the first one.
Have been picking a good few lbs worth every other day for the past few weeks but they seem to have slowed down dramatically in the last week or so.
I'm still a relative beginner but I have learned a lot and my strawberries are doing great so I'll share my thoughts!
Conventional wisdom is not to let them fruit in their first year, so I would definitely look to get some runners in now and established for next year.
I bought a single Albion plant last year (late so it had probably cropped already) and let it put out runners. Each runner will put out some leaves and then continue to run some more - keep them trimmed back to the first runner, subsequent plants will be weak. Put a pot of compost under the bunch of leaves on each runner, lightly peg the runner stem down if it has a tendancy to move around, and over a few weeks it will put down roots into the pot.
When the roots are established in the pot, snip the runner from the main plant and bring it on independantly. I think I made 13 new plants from the single one I bought giving me 14 plants this year - and I didn't even use all the runners it put out, and only the first plant on each runner! Obviously different varieties will vary!
All plants are fruiting this year, the differential seems to be where they are planted in the bed, the ones furthest from the trees that are in the sun the most are much bigger with more stems of of flowers/fruits, those in the partial shade of the trees are smaller and have just 1 stem of flowers/fruits but all are producing good fruit (I picked the first batch last night, very tasty!)
To cover the whole season you will need to pick varieties that fruit at different times, but either way I'd say now is the time to plan the beds and get some runners in the ground. I pegged fleece over mine for the winter and they show no signs of cold problems (leaves turn red) and are coming on nicely.
Planning is the hardest part - practising crop rotation is a good idea, but strawberries are supposed to crop well for 3 years (but will go on forever) so you would need to plan beds so that you can move the strawberries every fourth year (some people like to have 3 beds of different years on the go together how many beds would that require?) and grow other stuff that uses different nutrients in the other years (consider leaving a fallow year too).
If you plant different varieties in the same bed you will need to keep on top of the runners, if you let them self root in the ground you will just end up with a carpet of all the different varieties intermingled. Of course, that might be what you desire for a more rambling stawberry patch producing fruit all over for a long season rather than a patch with distinct areas that fruit at different times?
Hi Boater
With regard to your final paragraph - I definately seem to be falling into the 'rambling strawberry patch' category. Am hoping that my later varieties will start to flower shortly.
Hi SFord - I think it is important that everyone has their garden the way they want it, not everyone wants their garden to look like a mini farm
or in the case of my dad's fruit cage, like a POW camp! 
It depends on whether the hubby or I plant - Hubby is more of the regimented straight rows (using string to ensure everything is plumb) whereas I am a more 'by eye' and if 'it wants to grow there, let it' school of thought. Hubby was shocked that I had let some self-seeded flowers grow amongst the strawbs - looked lovely though!