Farm Fresh Strawberries

Strawberry season is here already. I was at Tenney Farm the other day and the owner was just setting out baskets of gorgeous looking berries…right on the counter so we couldn’t miss them!
So I had to buy some.  This quart size container cost me $5.00.

I am growing my own plants, but something – a chipmunk or red squirrel I suspect- has already eaten all the green berries. I did get ONE red one for myself, so next year I will be covering them with netting of some kind. I read that the first year the berries should be taken off anyway to let the plant mature for a better harvest next year.

My Strawberry Plant

This one is growing on my porch but will be going into the ground by Fall when I expand my garden.
A good way to plant strawberries would be like the diagram below.
Stagger the mature ones so the trailing “babies” can begin to root just to the side of their parent plants.