Tidying up the strawberries

 Last year the strawberries on the allotment didn't do at all well. There were other allotment people whose strawberry crops had failed too. They blamed it on weevils, which apparently eat at the roots and so destroy the plants. I think my strawberries failed because they were old. Strawberries work well on a 3/4 year rotation. It's usually best to get rid of them by the third or fourth year as they start to flag and don't produce much fruit. My strawberries had seen better days, when I thought about it I realised they were probably about five years old.

I grow my strawberries in big tubs and the bath and usually have year 1, year 2 and year 3 tubs. Each year I take cuttings from the runners to start a new year's crop. Well, that's my plan, but I haven't been very good at working to it for the last couple of years.

Last year I bought some new plants and planted them up in the bath, but being their first year there wasn't much fruit, they should do better this year. So this year I decided to get rid of all the old  plants in the other containers and start again. Back in February when we had that lovely weather  I potted up lots of plants from the runners of the old strawberries which were rooting themselves all over the plot. I had a good clean up, getting rid of the weak ones and selecting the healthy looking ones. 

I also tidied up the strawberries in the bath, getting rid of the dead leaves which looked such a mess. 

All the new potted up strawberries have been in the greenhouse for a few weeks now and are looking really good. This week I moved them to the cold frame. Soon they will be ready for planting in their big containers.

Remembering a few years ago when I couldn't pick the fruit fast enough and I made lots of strawberry jam, I'm hoping for a better strawberry harvest this summer.

Through the garden gate--February

 The garden is starting to wake up, little clumps of bulbs and primroses are flowering in the borders. Crocus, daffodils and cyclamen which I planted last year are looking bright and colourful.

There are some lovely blue pulmonaria flowering now, they are always early and bring some welcome colour to the garden at this time of year. I brought these from my old garden and they have taken well to their new home.

Last year I planted 50 snowdrops in the green and planted them around the garden. But 50 snowdrops doesn't go very far. So this year I ordered 100 and I have planted them all in one place, under a big weigela in the front garden. This should give me a better display. It's a shame that I have to wait until next year to see the result. 

I've started tidying the borders, cutting back the dead flower foliage which I had left over the winter for the wildlife. February is a bit too early to start disturbing the soil as the new plant growth is just starting to come through and I didn't want to damage anything. I'm still trying to remember which plants are in there as it was all newly planted up last year and I don't always label my plants.  As I worked my way around the beds I was doing a bit of planning as some of the plants were planted in the wrong place last year and will need to be moved. That's a job for March when everything has grown a bit more.

I am linking this post to Sarah's blog at 'Down by the Sea' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' post.