I got a bunch of June bearing from Mom last year, they send out lots of runners, I think they are Ogala (not sure about the spelling). They are just starting to produce. I also bought a bunch of Laredo and they did ok last year. I have a bunch in raised beds above ground, did not cover for winter and all died. I also put extras in the ground with a little straw around them, more so the berries are not on the ground. There was very little if any death on these. This year I am using bark mulch in one of the raised beds, it seems to retain moisture better. Now if I can get them before the birds!!! I put up chicken wire on the raised beds but have not finished it yet. Just got over 1 inch of rain here so won't have to water for awhile.

Yeah, I didn't realize when I was growing up that strawberries are quite tender to our cold weather! I don't know how Mom's survived all the time..must have had good snow cover(plus she is a zone warmer I think). I had originally planned on putting them in raised beds, but I'm just going to put them right in the ground and hopefully I won't lose anything.

Oh, the birds! They will eat every berry of any kind in sight if I let them! I want to make a frame to go over the strawberries to keep the darn things off.

I grew a few strawberry plants last year, but the yield disappointed me, and so did the size of the fruit. It's noteworthy to mention they weren't "first year" plants. The cold weather fruit is smaller and less meaty than the warm weather ones. Even at the commercial orchards, delicious yes, worth growing a few strawberry plants for the harvest... not convinced. I know I should consider them endearing, after all any kid of quality produce we can grow up here is a god send and should be cherished. But I'm just spoiled... I was born in LA and now live in Winnipeg, and after biting into years of summer California strawberries too big to eat in one mouthful and dripping with juices, the northern variety just can't satisfy my expectations.

'Kent' is a very good quality June bearer that produces heavily and is richly flavored (at least I think so anyways) and is quite readily available, I wouldn't overlook 'Jewel' everbearing to extend the season right up to hard killing frost. Forty or more plants is a good start to a patch and always situate them in a protected location where the snow tends to stay during the entire winter.

I'm getting my first few berries from the everbearing 'Albion' variety and these are firm and of high quality and hopefully prove to be hardy.

I was checking out strawberries on the web and I'm not sure now what I have for a june bearing variety and the other that I bought was Ft. Larame. They are everbearing and are starting their second round in the raised bed. The ones in the ground have been invaded with clover plus sending out runners every where, I'm going to have to weed wack the whole area and start over.

I prefer the June bearing, yes you only get one crop but it is a large one, the berries are huge and at least I can freeze and make jam. I find the everbearing types have smaller berries and I need more plants to produce enough at one time to do jam. My favorites are Honeyoye and Kent they have survived my zone 2 with no cover at all.

I would buy them from a good source such as Vesey's or another mail order, they are about $1.00 per plant. But if you can get that price locally go for it.

I agree the need plenty of water, plus good loamy soil. And keep them away from tree roots. I just moved mine from a raised bed by a poplar. I was watering frequently yet they were drying up. Dug up the strawberry plants and found the bed was filled with tree roots that had migrated to the water.

They had shallow roots so I'll be mulching in the winter.