Keep growing next year
Strawberries are hardy, self-fertile perennials that offer good harvests for three to four years. There’s no need to protect them from frosts as the cold helps synchronise flowering in spring. After harvest, remove unwanted runners, trim back faded foliage, keep the plants well watered and feed with a balanced fertiliser until autumn. Good leaf growth now directly affects the quantity of fruits produced the following year, so be vigilant.
After three to four years, yields decline and the plants become congested or succumb to viruses and root problems. Propagating stock via healthy runners every three or so years allows you to continue growing strawberries from your initial investment. Peg down runners in midsummer, leave to root, then dig up and treat as new plants in the autumn or spring, replanting them with their crown fractionally above soil level.
Perpetual varieties may be shy to produce runners, but these can be divided in early autumn.
When replanting, avoid doing so in ground where you’ve grown strawberries within the last three years (or potatoes/tomatoes last year). This helps avoid verticillium wilt, a troublesome root disease.