While the rest of the veggies in the veg patch get going for the summer, the strawberries are in full swing. As well as harvesting them and eating them (usually before they even make it to the kitchen) we often pot up some of the runners. They make excellent gifts for neighbours and friends, and given the current lockdown situation, they might be even more well received!
Potting on the runners is very easy - you'll see the strawberry plants putting out new shoots (runners) quite rapidly around about now, and at intervals approx 25cm apart along each runner you'll see a new baby plant beginning to form.
I simply fill a few small pots with multipurpose compost and plug the new plants (still attached to the parent plant) into the compost, holding them in place with some sort of clip. Over the next few days, the new plant forms its roots in the pots. A few weeks later you can cut them loose from their parent plant and you have a lovely potted strawberry plant to give to a friend or neighbour.
You can buy clips from the garden centre, but to be honest it's just as quick and easy to fashion your own from paperclips or cocktail sticks or anything else you have lying around the home. It's a good project for children!!
