The Home Strawberry Bed — By w. H. Jenkins, ss 



NOW IS THE CRITICAL TIME FOR THE NEWLY SET BED —WHAT YOU MUST DO THIS YEAR IF YOU 

 WANT BERRIES AS GOOD AS CAN BE GROWN NEXT YEAR — ROUTINE WORK ON THE OLD BED 



TT IS of the greatest importance that 

 -* the new strawberry bed for fruiting 

 next year (and which was set this spring), 

 be kept free from weeds. Begin cultiva- 

 tion before the weeds appear. Do not 

 wait for the ground to bake hard, but start 

 the cultivator while the soil is mellow. A 

 garden wheel hoe, with large wheels, hav- 

 ing such attachments as plows, rakes, 

 cultivators, teeth, etc., is the best tool 

 to use. For the first cultivation put on the 

 plows and run the wheel hoe both ways 

 between the rows of plants, which should 

 be at least two feet apart each way and in 

 check rows. Cut the soil quite deeply 

 between the rows each way to aerate and 

 mix the fertilizer with it. Next put the 

 rakes on the wheel hoe and pulverize and 

 level the little furrows left by the plow. 



If you lack space for garden vegetables 

 and wish to do some intensive gardening, 

 sow a row of vegetables, such as early 

 lettuce, radishes, spinach, or some quick- 

 maturing crop, half way between the rows 

 of strawberries. Put the rows of straw- 

 berry plants and the vegetables at least 

 one foot apart. A very good way is to 

 mix lettuce and radish seed and sow them. 

 The radish will germinate in about a week; 

 then one can continue cultivation with 

 wheel hoe. Put on two cultivator teeth 

 on each side of the hoe 

 and run them on either 

 side of the row of vege- 

 tables, i. e.„ straddle it. 

 Clean out all these early 

 vegetables in June, so as 

 not to obstruct the cul- 

 tivation of the strawber- 

 ries. If one has elsewhere 

 in the garden plenty of 

 rich soil prepared for veg- 

 etables, do not plant any 

 crop in the strawberry 

 rows. 



During midsummer cul- 

 tivate so that there will 

 be a dust mulch — a fine 

 layer of soil on the surface 

 — that will cause the 

 moisture to rise by capil- 

 lary attraction. The best 

 way to do this with the 

 wheel hoe is to use the 

 cultivator teeth as soon 

 as the soil dries out after 

 a rain, then finish with 

 rakes, using the hoe to 

 cut off all weeds as soon 

 as they appear. Only a 

 little hand hoeing will be 

 needed close around the 

 plant. If you keep a 

 horse or can get one eas- 

 ily, horse cultivation with 

 a cultivator having sev- 

 eral small teeth is best and 



easiest, but this should have been planned 

 for when setting the plants by making 

 long rows two and a half feet or more apart. 

 I have sometimes cultivated the long way 

 of the bed with the horse and the short 

 way with a wheel hoe. This makes the 

 soil so mellow that the wheel hoe runs 

 very easily. 



The method of clipping and transplant- 

 ing runners, if any are left to grow, will 

 depend on the plan of culture you have 

 decided upon. For best results in hill 

 culture, put the plants in check rows not 

 over two feet apart each way; eighteen 

 inches is better for light soils, and for the 

 non-stooling varieties. Hill culture is the 

 highest culture and the plants require 

 more attention. The runners must be 

 clipped every two or three days all sum- 

 mer, the plants watched closely for 

 white grubs which eat off the roots of 

 the plants; then the bed requires good 

 mulching in the fall to keep the plants 

 alive all winter. 



If the white grub appears try the carbon 

 bisulphide remedy. Just pour a tablespoon- 

 ful of the liquid on the crown of the plant, 

 letting it soak into the soil. 



Probably your best plan will be to prac- 

 tice a hedge row system, which is to cut 

 all the runners until about July ist, when 



Success with strawberries lies in keeping the bed in perfect condition 



and keep down all weeds 



bed one or two of the strongest runners on 

 each plant in the rows so as not to interfere 

 with running the cultivator one way. 

 After this try to keep all runners cut, and a 

 dust mulch around the plants and the 

 weeds destroyed when they first germin- 

 ate. 



It is very bad practice to dig plants from 

 the fruiting bed to make a new bed in the 

 spring. It is, however, a good thing to 

 make a little propagating bed quite late 

 in the spring, when the leaves are so large 

 that you can distinguish the different 

 varieties, using those which have proved 

 most desirable. One can bed all the strong, 

 early runners at one end of a row, placing 

 them around the mother plant like the 

 spokes in a wheel and holding them down 

 by little stones or soil. Keep the bed 

 clean and late in the summer thin out the 

 plants so that they stand two or three 

 inches apart. I prefer to make the prop- 

 agating bed apart from the fruiting bed, 

 so that I can practice horse cultivation 

 and can cultivate the whole length of 

 the row. 



Probably the strawberry bed that is 

 fruiting this year is weedy and must be 

 cleaned out to mature a good crop and to 

 save the bed for another year. If it 

 was kept well weeded last year and well 

 mulched the work of 

 weeding is easy. If there 

 are too many weeds re- 

 move the mulch, culti- 

 vate well between the 

 rows of plants hoe out 

 the weeds left and then 

 replace the mulch be- 

 tween the rows. 



In order to keep the 

 berries from getting 

 very sandy, place a layer 

 of green grass between 

 the rows after the weed- 

 ing is done. It is a mis- 

 take to think, as many 

 do, that weeding the 

 fruiting bed of straw- 

 berries will injure the 

 plants. Shallow cultiva- 

 tion is good for the plants 

 all summer, and even up 

 to picking time. With a 

 heavy mulch there will 

 be fewer. weeds and 

 less evaporation of mois- 

 ture. When the berries 

 are picked, mow the 

 plants close to the ground 

 and cultivate between 

 the rows to start a new 

 root growth and a new 

 growth of foliage so as 

 to have new plants in- 

 stead of old ones for 

 fruitim* next year. 



Cultivate often 



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