Old Strawberry plants - retirement

[veggiechicken]

I'm finding all this talk of strawberry plants being binned after 3/4 years quite upsetting.
Seems so ungrateful after they've given their best years to putting strawberries on your plate - a bit like getting rid of an old friend (like rary ).

I'm interested to hear whether you are hardhearted and get rid of them or do you think that a strawberry is for life, not just Wimbledon?

My approach will not surprise you -
I "retire" mine to an out of the way corner and let them live out their days as ground cover.

[burnie]

I re-cycle mine......in the compost bin, waste not and all that.

[1Bee]

I love you VC. May I come back as a strawberry plant on your heavenly patch.

[Bren In Pots]

I plant mine in any spare areas last year it was around the Silver birch tree, I got a good crop of them plus they kept the weeds down.

[veggiechicken]

Score:-
Hardhearted - 1
Softhearted - 3

[4Shoes]

My plan would be to give them the chickens to scratch out all the evils, but from you pics you have a forest garden ish, so your way would work.

Just today I'm looking at Fennel plants.... Compost or wee corner still to be decided.

[Snadger]

As well as using runners I break up the older clumps and replant them. Both are clones of the original plant and thee's no wastage!

[veggiechicken]

Score:-
Hardhearted - 1 +1
Softhearted - 3 +1

[Jungle Jane]

I have to be hard hearted because of space,although if I had space I think I’d still get the old plants out & new plants in. The plants can live on through their runners,they don’t mind decomposing,sometimes they choose to whether you want them to or not

[swaine]

I used to try and save everything until
It just dropped dead as I couldn’t bear to let things go

It got a bit difficult when I had over 130 varieties of strawberry in the collection but I found in a few old strawberry books that eased this conflict ,

Not something that would be looked upon greatly now but some American strawberry growers actually recommend ploughing under strawberry plants and planting new in their place using them as fertiliser for the new plants , so every couple of years my old plants go on the bottom of the pots ( 15 litre) and topped with soil and new plants planted on top , NOT a practice I recommend others to follow but I do feel plants then go to some good use ,
Stew

[Nicos]

Mine just stay put with all their babbies!
If I accidentally uproot a very weak woody one then it gets composted...but I préfère to leave them be.

[Dalrimple]

iv'e been clearing an old bed today and pulling the plants up and composting them if i'd known I could have dug em in and saved bending down and picking em up and carting em to the compost heap ! LOL theres no wonder iv'e got a bad back I should research things instead of diving in head first ! atb Dal.