Strawberries, mulch advice

[randy41]

I planted 400 row feet of strawberries this past spring. i know i should have had straw to mulch on hand at the time but i didn't. so now a hectic summer has past and i finally got my straw and am in the process of weeding and mulching.
I plan another planting of about the same size next spring. any recommendations of a crop i could plant now that will grow thick enough and then die in the spring? i would then plant my strawberry plants in it. i will not use chems to kill it as my farm is organic and may need to be certified as such. it will have to be killed by mowing before it goes to seed.

o...i have kept my present strawberry plants fairly well weeded and they are doing very well.

 

[ToadHill]

Winter Wheat will grow up until it gets hit with a hard freeze then die and you'll have a mat of dead wheat in the spring.

 

[randy41]

will there be seedheads that will sprout in spring?

 

[ToadHill]

Not if you plant it in late sept or early Oct. It germinates quite quickly and should grow well in cool weather, I plant mine about 6 weeks before the traditional first frost date.

 

[JerryG]

will there be seedheads that will sprout in spring?

We always planted after the other fields quite bearing. We clipped the blossoms that showed up that first year so the plants would make more runners and have a real good bed by the next spring. My Dad and uncles had about a 100 acres when I was a kid. I only have one row in the garden now. I'm going to put a new row out with landscape fabric. I've never tried it this way but I'm going to give it a shot.

 

[RobertN]

Not sure how to answer your question. But, it sounds like a perfect application for a Farmall Cub or Allis G to plow and cultivate

 

[randy41]

We always planted after the other fields quite bearing. We clipped the blossoms that showed up that first year so the plants would make more runners and have a real good bed by the next spring. My Dad and uncles had about a 100 acres when I was a kid. I only have one row in the garden now. I'm going to put a new row out with landscape fabric. I've never tried it this way but I'm going to give it a shot.

theres a way to grow strawberries called plasticulture which involves fall planting for harvest the next spring. you can google it to read about it.

 

[JerryG]

theres a way to grow strawberries called plasticulture which involves fall planting for harvest the next spring. you can google it to read about it.

I have been reading about that also.

Not sure how to answer your question. But, it sounds like a perfect application for a Farmall Cub or Allis G to plow and cultivate

We wore out a couple of IH Farmalls 140s.

 

[scott_vt]

We wore out a couple of IH Farmalls 140s.

Afternoon Jerry,
Yeah Ill bet you did, but they can be rebuilt fairly easily and get another 50 years out of them !