Strawberry Harvest?

Strawberry harvest is close. The bottom picture was taken the night before. This strawberry needs another day or two to ripen on the ground side. I woke up to this frost the next morning. It is the same strawberry.
Berries don't ripen off the plant, so be patient and leave them on until fully ripe to get the best flavor. You need to snap the stem with the thumbnail to harvest. This way the cap and stem will be on the berry and will keep longer.

Frost on Strawberries

My last post suggested planting tomatoes, which I did. Three days later, it frosted. I cover the tomatoes but not my strawberries. Time will tell how the berries handled the frost. May 5 is a 95% chance of no more frost in Riley County.

Mulching Strawberries

The weather has beat me to covering the strawberries with snow. Strawberries are hardy. Straw, hay or in my case ornamental grass is used to prevent early bloom, frost heaving and to keep the berries out of the dirt. Anytime you can get around to mulching them will be fine.