HOW TO SPREAD THE JOY OF STRAWBERRIES

FRoM midsummer, strawberries put out long shoots called ‘runners’ with plantlets spaced along their length, which root into the soil and make new plants. If left, they make a thicket of plants of different ages that encourage the spread of virus. However, they provide an ideal way to make new plants. You can let these plantlets root and then dig them up and re-position in a new bed. It’s better to grow them in a container, which not only helps the plant, but buys you time in creating a new strawberry bed. 1. FILL 3in pots with generalpurpose peat-free compost. Select the plantlets nearest to the parent plant and bury the container beneath it so the plantlet sits directly above the pot. Use lengths of wire to make simple staples to pin the runner to the surface of the compost. Water it. 2. LEAVE for two to three weeks, then gently tug to see if it has rooted. If so, cut it free from the parent and the rest of the runner. 3. THE plantlets can be left in the pot until next spring, but will do best if planted out in September or early October in ground that has not grown strawberries for three years.