Strawberries Spring to Life

I planted a handful of strawberry plants last year and only one row of them survived.  In the fall I mulched them in with some grass and pine needles and they spent the winter huddled under the shadow of the pine tree in the front yard.  As the weather warmed they began to show signs of life as the crowns sent up a few tentative leaves.  In just the past week or so, they have decided to make their spring debut and really began to look nice and green.

I am glad to have a nice established group like this, but I was hoping for a larger strawberry patch so I bought a few more crowns to plant in the same area.  I will have to be sure that this new grouping gets plenty of water this summer.  If I they do well, then I should get a nice crop of strawberries next year.  I decided to complete a circle around the pine tree with my newest strawberry plants.  Half of the new strawberries are a June bearing variety called Honeoye.  The other half of them are an ever bearing variety called Ozark Beauty.

I will keep these new transplants from flowering this year so that they may focus their energy on getting established.  I am hoping they send out runners to fill in the area around the pine tree.
This year I am expecting to only get a handful of berries from the established plants on the other side.  In a few years I am hoping that this area really fills out into a really nice strawberry patch.