I Did Not Have Mythically Everlasting Strawberry Plants.
We inherited a four-by-four foot patch of strawberries on the west side of our house when we moved in 2011. I was grateful for the former tenant who'd planted them with hopes of pickings to come. They came to fruition, but our family reaped the fruit. More exactly, I did. The home-grown strawberries, for my children, are a passing fancy. They are used to store-bought, commercially grown, gargantuan berries seemingly stuffed with growth hormones. Our little red gems are crawling with speck-sized bugs and have to be rinsed over and over if you don't want added protein with your berries. So, after a few, the kids turn up their noses and leave the rest to me. I overheard someone recently say that strawberry plants only last a few years and then they stop producing fruit. My plants must not have read their own instructions; our patch has been producing for 11 years. Maybe they were the exception. The harvest typically comes in late May or early June, later in the season this year
