Everbearing Strawberries & fences

 We ordered Ozark Everbearing Strawberries and planted them in the yard on the west side of the house. We don't have a tiller, so we used an edger to outline the space and then lifted the sod out. We knocked the loose, dark soil from the roots of the grass and then added a bag of organic soil. We mixed in organic plant food. We topped off the area with wood chips to help retain moisture and reduce the amount of straw needed. 

I would like to eliminate the need for straw since it blows around the yard and I spend so much time gathering it back up and placing it around the plants. The fence will also make a nice frame to hang netting to keep the birds away from the berries. 

 We hope the fence keeps the bunnies out, but also our puppies. They like to lay on the other strawberry patches to nap! It got worse when we placed a floating row cover over the strawberries. The dogs thought we made them a bed and laid on the plants more than before the row covers were placed on top of the berry plants. In the above photo, our dog, Padawan, is getting comfortable on the dirt, sticks, and rocks. That was before we incorporated the extra soil, the wood chips, and planted the strawberries. 

Here is our second harvest of the June bearing strawberries growing on the east side of the house. The first harvest was half this amount. We won't mind getting more and more over the next few weeks.