Strawberries - tips?

[Farmer_Gyles]

So ... I've had strawberry plants at home for years and they always get covered in weeds and grass and I never get strawberries - they grow under the raspberries as there isn't much space

Now I have an allotment, I'll be moving them

Should I build a box and net it? Or grow them open and no net?
How do I keep the weeds down? Straw? Grass cuttings?

Some people have immaculate plots, not a weed in sight - they have huge strawberry plants - I don't have the time to make an allotment that good - there will be weeds, grass will grow - I need to make it easy to maintain everything ....

[Alison]

I only cover mine with net when the fruits start ripening,

[ButternutSquash]

I only cover mine with net when the fruits start ripening,

Same here. I hand weed. Make sure you pull up young ones, they are invasive.

[Farmer_Gyles]

Those are things that I'm trying to avoid - I can't be there often enough to pull weeds - I want to suppress weeds and prevent them - and I want to know if I should build a box for them or not - some people do, some don't - what's best?

[Bigmallly]

Plant them through newspaper or cardboard, net them & plant any runners through the paper.

[ButternutSquash]

Dunno. Mine are in a bed. It is clay soil, dug over to remove compaction and composted. They seem to do well. I find that once the bed is cleared of weeds, it is a lot easier to keep it clean. Not letting weeds seed is key. I suppose you could mulch. I have to keep a watch as I have field bindweed and want to clear it which'll take years.

[Alison]

Those are things that I'm trying to avoid - I can't be there often enough to pull weeds - I want to suppress weeds and prevent them - and I want to know if I should build a box for them or not - some people do, some don't - what's best?

I don't really know what you mean by a box so can't comment on that. Do you have any photos of the types of things you mean?

[Martin H]

The guy who had the allotment next to mine had very little time to spend on it. He spread weed suppressing fabric over the entire plot and planted strawberries through holes in it. It seemed to work reasonably well although I can't say it looked all that decorative.

[lottie dolly]

The easiest way for me is,grow in a defined area,i use raised beds,so much easier to work from,mark each plant with a thin stick,so you know which is the mother plant,then when they finished fruiting and sending out runners,you will know what ones are your main plants,for the remaining 3 years of the plants life are,this makes it easier to go weed and clear out runners,start another bed with some of the runner,i now got 4 beds going,the only real attention they get is,weeds over a foot or flowering get pulled,then at fruiting time,pull up weeds as you pick the fruit,by this time the runners take over,the trouble with putting down a weed suppressant on our site is,the slugs ext gather,then the wild life come and dig it up for dinner,my comfrey bed bares testamony to that,neither do i net them,any slug damage is down to a dull roar,it will also depend on what sort of wild life you have at the lottie,squirrels have been seen on plots inside net cages eating strawbs,have a chat to and look at other plots to get the idea what works on your site,

[Richard Eldritch]

As others have said cover the ground with something. Perhaps woodchip would look better than fabric or cardboard but any of those would do.