This autumn gardening article is contributed by creative gardener and community builder, Phoebe Atkinson.
@nga_kaupeka
@growforresthill
There are certain homegrown edibles that make more sense to me than others. Growing brown onions, for example, in my small suburban garden, doesn’t make sense when they are super cheap to buy and take up bed space for at least half the year. Carrots and potatoes on the other hand are cheap as chips in season but the reward in unearthing their buried treasure is priceless and makes the effort well worth it.
Berries, for me, fall into the category of worth it on every level. A toddle out to the backyard, holding a little hand, to pick our own delicious rubies when their price would more often than not render them beyond us, is a joy that never gets old.
While we can never grow enough strawberries at Ngā Kaupeka to satisfy our ‘summer holiday vibe’ needs, they are nonetheless a must-grow for the same pick-your-own buzz.
How to grow strawberries from runners
Strawberry plants are most productive in their second year, but after three years, fruit production starts to slow down. To ensure a continual succession of cropping it’s good practice to replace plants after this time. Therefore potting up your strawberry runners (baby strawberry plants) is both rewarding and prudent.
At the end of the fruiting season, the strawberry plant sends out horizontal stems (runners), along which, new strawberry plants will form. Wherever these plants touch nutritious soil, they will establish roots and continue to grow into that soil to establish a new clone plant.
The long, flexible runners allow them to be bent and positioned directly into a separate, moveable pot. Position the plant in the pot (it may need to be held in place with a pin) and so long as the base of the plant is in contact with the soil, roots will form.
Once the new plant has established itself, the runner can be snipped from the mother plant. New plants can be replanted come winter – just when we need that timely reassurance that another summer is on its way!
