Strawberries are transplanted in the spring.  The plants are spaced about 16" apart in rows about 44" apart.  This first year the blossoms are clipped so that the plants will runner and establish the matted rows faster.  The plants are fertilized, watered, and weeded.  There is no harvest the first year.  In the fall, about the end of October, straw is blown over the plants to help them over winter.

The straw that was blown on in the fall is rolled off of the rows of strawberries into the isles the next spring.  There it acts as a mulch that suppresses weed growth, and is a clean place for the berries to set, and people to pick.

The strawberries are watered, weeded and fertilized.  Once the plants start to blossom they are frost protected with an overhead sprinkler system.  In mid to late June the berries start to ripen.  Picking lasts about a month.  Then the plants are mowed, and the isles rototilled.  The plants are watered and fertilized enough after harvest to keep them healthy as they start fruit bud differentiation, the process that determines how many buds the plant will have the next season.  The next spring those buds will turn into blossoms, then into berries, and another harvest is on.

Rainbow Gardens-2500 Whitefish Stage-Kalispell, MT  59901- http://rainbowgardens.net

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