How to Maintain Strawberry Beds

Mow over the strawberry bed with a standard push lawnmower sometime between the last harvest of the year and about two weeks later. Clear any clippings and other debris from the bed by raking. Compost this material unless it includes diseased plants.

Till the area between the rows. Some gardeners have a small tiller especially for this type of task. Others remove the outside tines from a larger tiller. The ground can also be worked with a garden spade or fork. The idea is to work the ground between the rows leaving about 1 foot of active strawberry plants in each row.

Add fertilizer to the strawberry bed. Soil tests can be performed to determine the ideal fertilizer mix, but commonly a fertilizer containing 13 percent of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium is applied at a rate of about 1 lb. for each 100 square feet of strawberry bed.

Thin the strawberry plants remaining in the rows using a hoe to remove unwanted plants. Commonly, one plant is left about every 5 inches. This leaves the plants room to spread out during the next growing season, improving yields.

Irrigate plants during the rest of the growing season. The plants come out of dormancy a couple of weeks after the end of fruit bearing and will start to grow. Apply about 1 inch of water per week from the time they break dormancy to the end of the growing season. Continue weed control during this same time by hoeing.