Hello Garden Gals and Guys! Welcome back to Fat Earth. This weekend marked the end of my faithful four-year-old strawberry patch. *sniff, sniff*
It pained me to pull it up, but it wasn’t producing as much as it has in the past. There was a lot of ground ivy that crept into the patch and trying to pull it out without disturbing the strawberry plants became nearly impossible. So up it all came. Before I post pictures of the empty space, I’d like to go on a little stroll down memory lane.
My amazing strawberry patch began with just a few plants. I honestly didn’t think the patch would last as long as it did…especially since I never mulched it in the winter months.
Here it is in its first year. I planted onions in between the plants because I read that they grew well together:
Here are the first berries I ever picked from the patch. I remember how excited I was when I saw them. I squealed like a kid on Christmas morning! They were so soft, juicy and SO sweet! I’ve never bought strawberries from the store since! Store-bought just doesn’t taste the same! One of my berries was even shaped like a heart:
Soon, more berries followed:
And followed…..
At the end of the first year, the berries put out runners. By the second year the patch looked like this:
Then my harvest started to look like this every few days:
I even enjoyed some with crepes I made for breakfast:
This year, the patch looked like this:
I tried thinning out the patch in the third year, but those amazing berries just filled the spaces right back in. But even with all that green, I didn’t get very many strawberries. Only maybe one small bowl. In the previous years I got at least one large bowl full every few days. I knew it was time to say goodbye and make room for new plants. Now…brace yourself….here is the empty space.
You can see the pile of strawberry plants laying there. My daughter refused to watch me pull the patch out. My hubby made me promise that I will have more strawberries again next year. Which I will, but most likely in pots…I need the garden space.
And so….we bid farewell to the Fat Earth Backyard Farm amazing strawberry patch. 🙁 But, as the good Lord says in His Word:
*in my Forrest Gump voice* That’s all I have to say about that.
Until next time….
Happy gardening!
*sniff-sniff I cry although I never tasted one of those juicy little lovely red hearts of yours. Farewell Fat Earth strawberries! May your cousins move in to please Audra's family next year!
~PJ at http://www.flippingdirtandflours.com
Awwww thanks, PJ!!! They shall return….just in pots though. They really take over. How's your garden growing??
Strawberry patches are a bit of work. I took mine out this year too. It stopped producing a lot and I was having a terrible time with chipmunks eating them.
They are a bit of work. Mine was enclosed in a cage so the only pest problems I had were with slugs. But the patch didn't produce very much this year so it was time to make space for new things. Thank you for your comments! I truly enjoy the feedback!!!