[flitwickone]

the patch is about 8 by 12 feet last december i was getting fruit .its my first full year on the lotty so today i removed all the old leaves etc and broke and hoed the earth where i could im told that strawberrys love tomatoe food  is this true? some of the plants are new growths alook re4ally healthy and ive rotavated a little bit of a bare patch so runner can find a home. I will net next month but my questions are what would you do if it was on your lotty?
thanks in advance

[digalotty]

i have the same so will be interested in what to do with the runners 

[Goosegirl]

Strawberries love tomato food - I use Maxicrop which has added seaweed extract. I'd re-plant the runners into a separate part and nip any flowers off this year so as to build them up into full-fruiting second year plants for next year. If you have room, you could do it again with this year's runners so you will end up with three areas of first, second and third year plants. The third year plants can be discarded in the fourth year as they will decline in vigour.

[savbo]

we've inherited a 2mx 2m strawberry bed that looks a right mess but with everything else we have to tackle it'll be lucky to get the dead leaves removed...we'll get some strawbs and that's enough for this year. Next year I'm digging it out, manuring it high and planting through good weed fabric...

[andreadon]

we've inherited a 2mx 2m strawberry bed that looks a right mess but with everything else we have to tackle it'll be lucky to get the dead leaves removed...we'll get some strawbs and that's enough for this year.

sounds exactly like my strawbs patch!
 

i left the leaves on it, but pulled out some of the older plants to give a bit more breathing space to the new ones.

[Trillium]

It's never good to feed the strawb. plants before fruiting as it tends to make the eventual fruit suck up more water then you have a less than tasty crop. Experienced gardeners always feed them AFTER cropping is finished and when you're doing a cleanup of the fruited plants (trimming off old leaves, removing ones that no longer bear, etc). I throw some old manure around the plants or give them an old manure tea drink after they've fruited and I get loads of berries.
As for flitwickone's patch, I'd do much the same as goosegirl suggests, but don't feed it now. And prepping a patch to peg in runners (wait until they're well rooted before clipping from the parent plant) is a good idea.

[Goosegirl]

Didn't know about feeding after they've fruited - thanks for that, Trillium.

[Trillium]

You're welcome, goosegirl. Also, if you're planning to make jam, don't use the berries if it's rained the previous 3 days as they take up a lot of water that way and make a watery jam. Wait a few days after a rain to pick and the jam will turn out well, or pick before an expected storm. By waiting a few days after a rain, the berries will transpire off some of the excess water.