It's been a second bumper year for strawberries this year. 4 weeks of picking and now they are at an end. The whole patch comes from two plants - both Honeoye. Early and with a sharpness, they suit us well, but now the challenge is to extend the season. This spring I bought three plants. I was after late strawberry Florence, but the garden centre only had one so I also bought another late one Judibell and then a mid season Cambridge Favourite. These were planted in pride of place in the border at home. When they started to develop fruit I removed it all and any further flowers too. As a result they grew green and lush - and produced a crop of strong runners. So today, during the lighter rain, I buried a few pots and anchored down the plantlets that have started up. A couple had taken root already. so I let them be. Perhaps rather greedily I have allowed for 6 offspring for each plant. Any further runners have been removed. Once I'm happy the new plants are viable on their own I'll cut the runners and then remove the whole lot to the plot. and replace all but a dozen in my current patch. 21 plants for the price of 3, provided you are happy to wait a year. Following comments from people who have seen their strawberries mix themselves up I plan to be very rigid about where I let these kids run in future. All being well we should have strawberries over a much longer period. It'll be interesting to see how they compare.
