One of the things that I have most enjoyed this spring is my brilliant little strawberry patch. In spite of the snow in March and April, it has really flourished and is doing amazingly well with my first strawberries ripening now.
Last year I grew 3 strawberry plants in pots outside my front door. I didn’t get a great crop, but later in autumn they started putting out runners. I popped the roots of the runners into small pots of compost, watered them and a couple of weeks later once they had established I snipped the runners off from the main plant. Then, a few weeks later in late autumn I planted them in a raised bed. They withstood the winter well, in spite of heavy rain, hail, gales and snow and started flowering early last month. Now, at the very end of May I am already seeing the berries starting to ripen.
I think, having planted strawberry plants last spring and not got a great crop from them, that it is really good to plant the runners in autumn (or buy and plant runners in autumn/winter) so that they are already established when spring comes along for a nice, early crop. It’s been so satisfying, especially as I’m not harvesting much else other than herbs and salads right now. It’s a bit of a treat!!