Strawberry Bed clearing - and spring lambs

Today I spent an hour clearing up the strawberry bed ready for spring.  This involves removing all runners that have suckered up around the plant, getting rid of dead leaves, and general tidying up.

I have lots of stones lying around the edges of the beds because they are holding down the edges of the black plastic.  

Looking at the photo it looks quite messy, but actually, before hand it was just a tangle of dead leaves.  Job well done.

Strawberry plants are really hardy.  They will send out suckers each year, and those make air roots which attach to anything.  Sometimes they just stick onto and grow on the black plastic.  You can cut each of these off their sucker, and plant them out for next year.  My brother told me that when he worked in a nursery they used to punch the plants straight into plastic, no pre-hole, just punch it through and create the hole as you went.  Which seems harsh, but he said the plants didnt appear to mind at all.    I have kept plants just lying around, and then planted them a week later, and they have been fine.  Also, you can post them!  just wrap in some wet newspaper, pop into a plastic bag and send to a friend! 

We are hoping for lots of strawberries like last year, they are such a treat in the summer.

This is "Lucky" who was rejected by his mum.  He was so strong and healthy, I didnt want to leave him to die, so now we have a pet lamb! very cute, just look at those ears!