Kathryn, I sympathize with your plight with birds, last year the chipmunks
about wiped me out of Junebearers and even ate all green gage plums off the
trees in June. Birds are around but have not bothered me too much even with
blueberries. I bought a couple pieces of netting but have not used them.
Perhaps it is that 95% of land around is wooded so a somewhat natural
population of birds exists. With our wettest April May early June ever and
2 weeks of heat I have had an enjoyable strawberry crop and the other
berries look good too.
Jeff, you did not say what you did with runners with your mound system. I
presume you remove them if you end up with a single row. I am eliminating
my 2 best patches after harvest because they have gotten slightly out of
hand and I know runners will be a constant battle. I plan to move some
runners into east-west raised rows like yours. I have had reasonable
production with the day neutral tristar in my climate. Nothing like the
June rush but occasional hand or bowl fulls until hard frosts and a valued
addition to the multi berry desserts to come.
Incidently had my first honeyberry (edible honeysuckle)cropof 30 to 40
this year. They were a week before strawberries , but a better name would
be bitterberry. I guess for catalogs edible means you can eat a handfull
without rolling over. vann southern NH
