Controlling strawberries

Anne Swithinbank’s masterclass on: wayward strawberries

- Anne Swithinbank

Q Every year I seem to lose control of our strawberry patch. Instead of neat, productive clumps where I put them, I end up with small unproductive plants all over the place. Can you help? Annabel Critchley, Kidderminster, Worcestershire

A Homegrown, sun-ripened strawberries have a delicious flavour and are well worth their bed space. Although long-lived, plants are at peak production for only three or four years, so perhaps yours have simply run out of steam and it is time to start a new bed on fresh, well-cultivated soil. You can do this with healthy home-produced runners, or new disease-free plants. Rooted runners are usually planted from late summer to autumn or in spring, and cold-stored runners in May and June.