METHODS OF GROWING

I describe the three systems most valuable for the home garden: (1) the
hill, (2) the matted row, and (3) the pot-layered. (1) In the hill
system the plants are put in single rows, or in beds of three or four
rows, the plants one foot apart and the rows, or beds, two or three
feet apart. In either case each plant is kept separate, and all runners
are pinched off as fast as they form, the idea being to throw all the
strength into one strong crown. (2) In the matted row system the plants
are set in single rows, and the runners set in the bed at five or six
inches each side of the plants, and then trained lengthways of the row,
this making it a foot or so wide. The runners used to make these
secondary crowns must be the first ones sent out by the plants; they
should be severed from the parent plants as soon as well rooted. All
other runners must be taken off as they form. To keep the beds for a
good second crop, where the space between the rows has been kept
cultivated and clean, cut out the old plants as soon as the first crop
of berries is gathered, leaving the new ones--layered the year before--
about one foot apart. (3) The pot-layering system, especially for a
small number of plants, I consider the best. It will be seen that by
the above systems the ground is occupied three years, to get two crops,
and the strawberry season is a short one at best. By this third system
the strawberry is made practically an annual, and the finest of berries
are produced. The new plants are layered in pots, as described above.
The layers are taken immediately after the fruit is gathered; or better
still, because earlier, a few plants are picked out especially to make
runners. In either case, fork up the soil about the plants to be
layered, and in about fifteen days they will be ready to have the pots
placed under them. The main point is to have pot plants ready to go
into the new bed as soon as possible after the middle of July. These
are set out as in the hill system, and all runners kept pinched off, so
that a large crown has been formed by the time the ground freezes, and
a full crop of the very best berries will be assured for the following
spring. The pot-layering is repeated each year, and the old plants
thrown out, no attempt being made to get a second crop. It will be
observed that ground is occupied by the strawberries only the latter
half of the one season and the beginning of the next, leaving ample
time for a crop of early lettuce, cabbage or peas before the plants are
set, say in 1911, and for late cabbage or celery after the bed is
thrown out, in 1912. Thus the ground is made to yield three crops in
two years--a very important point where garden space is limited.