The sweltering, baking sun begins to lessen the intensity of its summertime rays.
The heat embracing crops have become brittle, their youthful production now a distant memory, leaving a mottled sea of green and brown foliage over the spent garden bed.
Children are heading back to school with their new backpacks and jackets, romancing the idea of bon fires and football games, as their breath fogs up in the frosty morning air.
As the pumpkin vines droop around their prized orange fruits and the chickens give up their last broods of the season, the homesteader knows it’s time.
It’s time to let go of another beautiful, successful growing season.
It’s time to clean up beds, harvest grains, store the winter squash, and prepare for the cold, dark winter ahead.
What to Do With Strawberry Plants at the End of the Season
Once the days of growing have started to come to a close, strawberry beds need to be prepared for the cold that’s going to be settling in. If you want to know how to winterize strawberry plants in a raised bed, the instructions will be a bit different and more detailed. For those that are in the ground, begin by thinning out any runners that you do not intend to keep for fruiting next year. Clean up your bed, and offer a final dose of fertilizer approximately 6 weeks before the last frost. Beds need to be weeded, and old organic matter may be removed. If you started strawberries from seed earlier in the year, try to keep any runners from developing; this will keep the plants growing strongly up until the first frost. There are varying ways to handle strawberries at the end of the season, so let’s take a look at some of your options.
Strawberry Cold Hardiness: Zones 4, 3, and Below
Strawberries are cold hardy to the USDA zones 3 and 4. For colder zones, extra care will be required to keep plants alive and protected through the bitter winters. Plants need to be mulched in these colder zones, and could greatly benefit from a cold frame or greenhouse. If the crown and roots become too cold or suffer extensive damage, they will not come back the following year. By keeping the plants out of the wind and offering them just enough supplemental heat (especially through solar means), strawberries can be grown in colder zones.
To Mulch, or Not to Mulch?
Mulching is a very common practice for strawberry beds, especially in colder zones. Further south, mulching is more of an optional chore. However, the straw can help to protect against strong winter winds in addition to cold temperatures, snow, or ice. Where I am in Zone 7A, we do not have to mulch our plants. However, I allow the plants to mulch in place. I will cover this in more detail in just a few minutes.
Mulching can be achieved with various organic materials, including straw, hay, wood chips, or even animal fur. Yes, some homesteaders will use wool from their sheep to mulch garden beds! I recommend mulching after cleaning the bed, if you choose to clean it. Mulch the plants before the overwintering leaves appear, a sign that the cold temperatures have already arrived. Once the bed is no longer a bright shade of green, return to the bed and push mulch against the crowns of the plants for added protection.
Thinning Runners & Transplanting for Optimal Spacing
If you have an abundance of runners, you likely have plants that have rooted far to close to one another. These plants should be pulled from the bed, and transplanted to another location with more space. Try to keep plants at least 18″ apart before each growing season begins. All diseased and weak plants should be removed and disposed of immediately. If you intend to mulch in place, simply leave the runners (both the ones you will keep and the healthy ones that you will dispose of) until the following spring for added protection.
If there is less than 6 weeks before the last frost date, avoid transplanting the runners or they might not have a well established root system before winter. A plunge in temperatures may kill these weakened plants. If you want to keep these plants, transplant them at the first sign of spring awakening; however, I would not expect fruits from these spring transplants.
To Clean the Bed, or Mulch in Place?
Cleaning the strawberry bed can be beneficial, as it keeps the bed tidy, reduces the risks of disease, and it also helps to eliminate pests. Cleaning the beds before winter is a very common practice, especially for gardeners who plan to place mulch into the bed. A clean bed is easier to inspect, care for, weed, mulch, and fertilize. However, removing the dead plant matter is not necessary if there is not an issue with disease or pests. By leaving the plant matter to mulch in place, those nutrients will be returned to the soil. The dead leaves will protect the crowns and roots, as well. Mulching in place is a great option in warmer zones, saving you time and money. Strawberry plant beds are quite dense, especially those that have June bearing varieties. All of the years unwanted runners will help to shelter the other plants from the cold, giving them one last purpose on the homestead before being disposed of.
Strawberry Winterization: How to Tell When Strawberries Are Overwintering or Dormant
Once cold weather sets in, the strawberries begin to go dormant. You will see many of the large, green leaves turn a bit darker, with red hues setting in over time. Once the red leaves set in, your strawberry plants are prepared for the cold weather ahead. They will stay this way throughout the cold winter. Once spring weather arrives, you will see tons of new, green leaves erupting from the crowns, welcoming the warm weather. The huge, older leaves will slowly and eventually give way to their younger replacements, as if they’re offering continued protection from frost to the tender growth. Strawberries are one of the first plants to come back to life on our homestead, and flower quite early with the peach trees.