A Berry Nice Problem to Have.

Efforts to replace the entire front yard with strawberry plants continue. My berries are ever so happy, and are sending out runners in every direction.

As you can see, many of them have planted themselves in the gravel pathway along side the beds I built. This is not problematic in and of itself. Letting runners root themselves is an inexpensive and easy way to increase your crop. It is really one of my favorite things about growing strawberries. You let them do what they do naturally, and you are rewarded .

Some of these new plants will be moved to the location currently occupied by my parsley plants. Some will moved to new beds I plan to dig up in a few weeks. Some older plants will be culled. Happily, that still leaves some plants. Looks like I have berry babies to share! Which is good, because my parents’ strawberry bed took a hit last winter. Not that those plants owed them anything. We planted 75 strawberry seedlings when I was in high school, and my mom has been culling old plants and replanting runners since then. That is about twenty-five years of propagating from the original batch we planted. (Yes, my mom has the mad skillz)

Step one was to scour the garage for spare pots. Then, I filled the pots with dirt. If these plants were bound to stay potted, I would have used a good quality potting soil. Since I know these little green guys will go in the ground I just used regular dirt.

For plants that are growing in unenriched soil topped with gravel, these guys are healthy. It is easy to pull a plant off its roots; a small spade is a must for this operation. I usually snap the runner first, then carefully dig up the baby plant.

Madame Ovary decided to help me. for a while. Here, you can see two rooted strawberries still connected by a runner. There was a third plant starting (just leaves on the runner, no roots) so I took all three. I left the runner connected to the plant that was rootless. The runner will keep feeding the littlest plant until it can root itself at my parent’s house.

That looks like a good start. Another top tip for transplanting- do not skimp on the water. I gave these plants a good drink. Tomorrow they will be deposited in their new home.

Here they are, getting cozy with my parents’ tomatoes. (Side note- I should have taken pictures of their tomatoes. Holy cow those are some productive tomatoes)

When we first bought the Food It Yourself house, my parents gave me some of their strawberry plants. Now, I am returning the favor. That is how gardening should work! Share your knowledge, share your plants and seeds, share the love of growing stuff. Who have you shared plants or seeds with lately? Share in the comments!