[Marijke Jones]

Dear fellow gardeners,

Can you leave strawberry plants in the ground during winter? I have a frost blanket if there is frost but to be honest here in Ireland the frost isn’t that bad and in Dublin it’s most no lower than -2 C. Your advice will be most welcome. If they can be left in the ground what preparations do I have to make?

[Candide]

Here in Kent, the two periods of Arctic weather killed off other stuff but not the strawberries.  I've not been at this long but reports on here say strawbs are pretty hardy and not the delicate souls I would have thought

[Anton]

I think the plants are a bit like weeds aren't they?
I cut down all the weeds on the new plot I took on last year. A woman passing by looked at the garden and asked what happened to the strawberry plants? I didn't see any plants in all the mess. And despite two or three severe winter frosts, the plants are back again this year.

Anton

[Subversive_plot]

Marijke, the coldest it's ever been in Dublin is -12.3 °C, and strawberries will survive that, and worse! 

[snowdrops]

They’ll be fine Marijke,  cold isn’t the issue but standing in wet is, that’s why it’s recommended to plant on a raised ridge to aid drainage but not necessary if ground is well draining

[Goosegirl]

Some people cut off all the old foliage before winter so as to stop them getting rot oon the crowns, but I've left them on until the new year then had a tidy up so as to let the new leaves see some light and start growing.

[JacsH]

I leave ours in the ground without any cover here in SW Scotland. They are in raised beds simply because our soil is cold, wet and peaty. Came through the weeks of -6 to -10 last winter; tidy off dead leaves and extra runners in spring, feed with blood, fish and bone and let them get on with life. Good crop this year 12.1kg from about 30 plants plus an awful lot eaten but not weighed first.

[Grubbypaws]

What about if they are in containers?

[New shoot]

What about if they are in containers?

Mine came through last winter in containers without a hitch and we got -8 one night.

[Goosegirl]

Mine are in the tops of those breeze blocks with oblong holes in them which we used to make a raised bed a couple of years ago and are doing fine. Had to move a few this spring as some had died off and the roots had grown right down the holes. The soil will sink after first planting so best to pack the base of the soil well down as much as you can, then make a ridge then plant the strawbs with their roots spread out around them then back-fill.