This is just a friendly reminder that we are moving into fall and if you live in an area threatened by heavy forsts and snow that you should mulch your strawberry crowns to help them survive the coming cold.  Four inches of clean straw has helped ours survive last winter, which included a few days that dipped down to 0.  ’08-’09 was a record year for the number of days below freezing.  I lost count at over 40.

It doesn’t sound like much, but the winters here are what I consider mild for a temperate climate: we only experience a couple of days where temperatures dip to 0 or  below over night, with only a month where temps stay at or below freezing.  Usually if we get a couple of inches of snow, it doesn’t stick around for more than a week, except in the shadows cast by the house and trees.