Well, on Sunday I finally got round to doing this task. Let me show you the Strawberry plants before they got covered in leaves:. You can see here how the runners were spreading out in all directions and looking for a home in the shingle.
As some of you know, I grow my Strawberries in black plastic crates (you can just about make them out in the photos above). I have 4 of them, each containing 4 plants. My plan is to keep my stock vigorous by replacing one box every year with new plants grown from the offshoots. Here's Box No.1 lined up for the treatment:
A closer look at the runners reveals some nice strong plantlets, some of them with well-developed root systems already (I had to prize them out of the shingle with a trowel).
So, snip the plantlet off the runner, and stick it into a small pot full of moist compost. It's as simple as that!
Following my usual policy, I potted-up six plants even though I only need four. This allows for some casualties.
The little plants are now safely ensconced in one of the mini-greenhouses, where they will spend the Winter prior to being planted up in their crate (duly filled with fresh compost) in the Spring.
Job done!
