"Thanks, I always wondered about those strawberry pots. Are they a preferred method? besides space and critters, is there any other benefits or drawbacks to the pot method as opposed to the "in the ground" strawberry patch? And how much direct sun should strawberries get? I guess I'm not with it at all because I don't know "mother" and "daughter" are you referring to the offshoots? I'm probably making this more complicated than it needs to be." ******************************************************* I can't speak about containers other than I know that some folks have done it successfully. It just requires more attention to water and fertilizer, as with any container plant. Mine have been in the ground for about 4 years now, which is the only way I've grown them. Hopefully, someone more knowledgable about growing straws in containters will chime in here. The "daughter" plants I referred to are the the smaller plants that start to form from the runners. Once the daughter plants establish roots, they are considered a new plant and can stand on their own, without the help of the "mother". The "umbilical cord", better known as the runner, can be severed at this point with harming either plant. Strawberry plants are really a weed in my eyes, and spread like crazy once they have been established. They are heartier than most give them credit for. Mine get full sun in the garden and do extremely well. I do water a time or two in the spring and periodically during the summer, depending on how dry it is. But really, they are just beneficiaries of my vegetable garden, which is my reason for for watering in the first place. I think they would do just fine without it. Weeds and crowding is probably the strawberry plant's worst enemy. That's one of the reasons why it's so common to cover the ground around the plants with black plastic in commercial growing. Production tapers as they start to get a few years old. That's why it's good to let the runners propagate... so you have newer, more productive, plants the following years. Once the older(3-4 year old) plants slow down on fruit production, they can be removed from the garden, leaving room for the newer offshoots. Hope this helps some.

They tell you to cut off all flowers so that a the plant's energy goes into growth and runners. It is a good thing to do. Last summer I placed 4"x4" pots next to my established plants and placed a runner in each pot. By july I cut the new plants from the mother plant and babbied them till I planted them in the new bed in September. The next June I did not cut the flowers off and I got a full harvest got some great berries. Strawberries set their fruit in lat September to early October for the next year. If your plants are well established before this time you can get away with not cutting the flowers. Good luck. JOHN

Veggie: 1. Did the runners you stuck in the dirt root or not? I assume you know that they root beneath the rosette of leaves at the end of a runner. If there are roots under these new rosettes, you can remove the rest of the runner completely, and you will have a stand-alone plant. If you buried the runners before leaf rosettes formed, you may have prevented the formation of new plants. 2. You don't really winterize containerized strawberries. You move them to a location, such as a garage, shed, or basement, where the roots and the soil will not freeze solid. There is no need to do this until night temperatures fall significantly below freezing, and stay that way. Let the plants go dormant outdoors before moving them into a protected area, which should not be warm enough to break them out of dormancy. Put them back outdoors when temperatures are just creeping back up to 30 degrees or so. Strawberries are tough, and can stand a lot of cold, but they can't be allowed to freeze solid. 3. It is normal for strawberry leaves to die and turn brown as the plant enters dormancy. You can remove them if you like. The important thing is to keep the roots and crown healthy, and protect them from a very hard freeze. 4. It is difficult to keep the same containerized strawberry plants going for years. At least every two years, you should dump out and renew the soil, and replant the younger, more vigorous plants. Do this in very early spring, before the plants come out of dormancy. Throw out plants that have elongated crowns and have been around for two years or more, since their berry production and size will decline substantially. 5. Did you get any strawberries this past season, and what type of strawberry are you growing? Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Oh my goodness!!!! Your SH is amazing!!! Mine never looked half that good...well, not even 1/4 that good!!! I just love the scent...I miss not having that scent around. I though Scepter'd Isle would have the same scent, but it doesn't...nowhere near as nice as SH's fragrance. I love what you've done with SH....I am impressed! Carol