Strawberry Fields Forever....Mulch, Observe and Journal

After a few weeks, the strawberries are growing in both beds and so are the weeds!  I note that in the bed that gets more sun - both weeds and strawberry plants are growing larger than in the shadier bed.

Already there are a few berries forming...

I notice a couple of half-ripe strawberries have been half-eaten by roly-poly's.  I decide to weed and then mulch the earth gaps between the strawberries: perhaps this will help keep down the weeds and keep the strawberry fruit off the earth so that they are less eaten by roly-poly's.  The bird netting is working to keep off the birds! 

"Do the strawberries need straw?"  I post the question to Master Gardeners and get plenty of responses: Some people advise straw in the fall, and then raking back the straw in the spring.  But now is the spring...
A colleague gives me a third of a bale of straw for free!
Another person recommends newspaper - it's cheap and works!
I decide to try - one bed with straw mulching...

and the other one with newspaper mulching.

Observe your own strawberry beds.  What's happening?
Here's some journal entries about strawberries from Arlington Traditional School students.  I'm observing and blogging..  



Next: let's harvest and look at the strawberries in more detail