After that picture was taken, the strawberry plants in these containers went crazy, sending out runners which made lots of new plants. I was actually quite surprised by this. The tubs are black and collect a lot of heat during sunny summer days. I thought they would be too hot for strawberries, but I was wrong.
Winter is almost over and we are beginning to have quite a few warm days and I decided it was time to clean out and thin my strawberries. Here's one of the strawberry tubs before I started.
As you can see there are a lot of dead leaves, so I had to remove those before I could see where the strawberry plants were.
Next, I selected certain plants that I dug up. You have to practice "tough love" when thinning strawberries. Sometimes that means getting pretty rough with them. I removed the big clump in the middle. It took some digging and hard pulling to get it out.
It consisted of several plants crowded close together. I saved these to plant somewhere else.
I tried to leave plenty of room between the remaining plants in order for them to have room to grow. Here's the tub after I finished.
After I thinning all three tubs, I had almost a whole Walmart bag full of plants that I will give away or plant elsewhere.
My work was made a lot easier by this garden bench. It is just the right height to use with the tubs. You can also turn it over and use it to kneel on.
So, one spring chore is completed, but I have a lot more to go. Wish me luck!
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