The ones that are growing like God dang weeds in my front yard. I pulled out all the old crowns last spring, and got just as soon as I was done, a whole bunch of new ones took their place. They are your's free, well, the cost of labor. Or maybe I'll pull them all up again and force myself to make it to the swap this year and trade them for something that doesn't make that walkway border look "icky."

Sorry, that was more of a rant than anything useful.

I have 18 Ft. Laramie strawberry plants in a ý-whiskey barrel and they are amazing. I just filled the barrel with potting MIX (not soil), threw in a handful of fertilizer, mixed it up and plopped the plants in! Every few weeks I fed them some fish emulsion, but otherwise just watered deeply every couple of days. I wanted to try a small strawberry patch last season after taking years off because I could never get them to survive in anything. I had handfuls of very large, gorgeous berries from July through early November. The leaves are large, shiny and beautiful - really nice plants to look at. They are an everbearing variety and are supposedly hardy to -30F. I don't know how true that is because this is their first winter. We've had two nights at or below -20F at our house this winter which should be perfectly acceptable to determine their hardiness. I just removed any blossoms before July 01 and then let them do their thing thereafter.

They do tend to put out a lot of runners; perfect for a raised bed. I snipped most of them off so the barrel wouldn't get too crowded. I didn't remove any of the leaves or anything in the fall - I figured the little bit of extra insulation wouldn't hurt since they're in a container. I'll trim them to the crowns when the weather warms in April/May. Every few weeks I dump some water on them to keep them happy. Maybe I'll set another barrel next to the current one and propagate a new patch this season - we'll see what kind of space I have..

I got them at O'Toole's in a 6-cell flat for $5. If I decide not to propagate another barrel, I'll just buy more seedlings when these plants wear out; as I understand it, most strawberry plants are good for about 3 seasons and then die out, relying on their runners to continue their "legacy".. :)

This post was edited by NBM81 on Fri, Jan 30, 15 at 14:39

ZachS, your post cracked me up lol. Is this too early to pull them up and put them in pots? Well, at any rate, I'd take some if you made it to the swap. I've decided to focus only on the fruit and veg that I love to eat all the time and that don't grow huge due to my space issue. Strawberries is currently the highest on that list.

NBM81, thanks for sharing the info with me. I did try a couple Ft Laramies last year, but this was before I started studying horticulture at college and my green thumb was at its brownest. Needless to say I did everything wrong with those strawberries and then some, oops. They didn't make it, to no one's astonishment lol. I think they'd be worth a shot again though since I've managed to keep from killing any plants since starting school. They sound like a good variety to have if they've produced well for you.

So, when cold weather rolled around did you mulch with straw or anything? It may be hard for me to find any straw in this vast metropolis, but I hear it's good insulation for them and also perhaps their namesake. Have yours been uncovered all winter? If so, are they still hanging in there? I'm so scared to have anything perennial that comes back. I still don't quite know what I'm doing with those that die back then come back in spring.... not as clear cut as annuals. I guess the apprehension comes from them being in smaller pots, not the ground. My teacher says if you water them it adds insulation to protect the roots. I guess I just need to trust the process a little.

I'm glad you got a laugh out of it at least! It's probably much too early, unless you really wanted to baby them for the next few months. They did start to "wake up" with this past weeks thaw.

To be perfectly honest, I don't know if you really want them. I'm guessing they are 1 year old plants, and they should give you some fruit this year. But, they might might also be some old, old, old crowns that I happened to miss last spring that came back, I'm not really sure. Of course, it's no problem for me to get you some, if you wanted to try them out. I plan on digging them up regardless, so, it's not a lot of extra effort to plop them in a pot with some left over mix.

What part of town are you on Garner? Straw is pretty easy to find here on the south end for me. There's a Murdoch's in Highlands Ranch and Valley Feed in downtown Littleton, and the Jared's nursery here by the house sells it as well.

COLORADO Strawberry Varieties
Recommended strawberry varieties for Colorado: Catskill, Empire, Fairfax, Fort Laramie, Geneva, Guardian, Marlate, Ogallala, Ozark Beauty, Quinault, Redchief, Red Rich, Redstar, Robinson, Superfection, Tribute. (Colorado State University Cooperative Extension Service)

Garner, no I did not insulate them. I was planning to mulch the top of the barrel (there's about 5" of "headspace" between the soil and the top of the barrel), but I never got around to it and just let the plants die back. Once they died back I was going to remove the old growth, but figured I'd just let the die-back foliage be the insulation in and of itself. I don't know if they'll make it or not, but they're supposed to be one of the hardiest varieties, so we'll see! Once the warmer weather arrives in April, I'll cut them back to the crowns.

I literally just planted them, fed them fish emulsion once in a while (maybe 1-2 times per month) and watered every few days. They also get full sun with virtually no shade year-round. The fruit were about the size you get at the market and I had well over 100 berries the first season. I hear second year is most productive. I sure hope so!

At the end of the day, if they don't come back, I'll just go buy new plants. I don't mind springing $15 if I have to. :)