Cant really comment on varieties in your zone cause Im in zone 9. I grow Quinalt, All Star, Sequoia and Ozark Beauty here with okay results. For bigger berries space 12 inches apart so 16 plants should fit into 4x4 box. Any closer than 12 inches they start to compete for food and that results in smaller fruit. I removed the flowers and runners off of mine the first year but most people here try to plant in Nov or so and pull up the plants after harvest in the spring. It kinda sucks devoting a bed to them year round for 2 weeks of berries. Im going to pull mine this spring and make way for tomatoes and squash.

I use commercial landscaping fabric. After cutting about fifty holes, I switched to a torch and burned another 300 holes in about half the time. Weed free, saves water and the snails hate it. The black is good for Michigan, as it warms the soil, but you may opt for a lighter colored fabric. As for the dry, mine are planted on mounds so they resist our spring downpours. I would use straw until you are ready to replant. I personally hate straw as it seems to plant more weeds that it prevents and with all the rain we have, mold issues start to spring up.

If you get a bunch of small pots, you can pot up your runners NOW. You should have plenty of time yet in Oregon. They grow roots very quickly. Don't cut them from the mother plant until they get established. Keep them well watered. You can then replant them wherever you want. I moved an entire bed last year using just runners like these.

Thanks David. Did you get snow? We got about six inches of snow last night. No time to put straw on the strawberries. That was going to be this weekend's project. There's a thick layer of shredded cedar mulch around the plants but not on top ?? We put in about 40 perennials in the new butterfly/hummingbird garden last week but there are still about three more sitting out there in pots waiting to be put in the ground now covered in snow. We'll see how they fare. That's why I like to buy my plants on sale because only the tough survive in my garden. I only baby the veggies. It sure is beautiful outside. The sun shining on winter wonderland :)