I'll be frank! I am NOT a gardener. We have never had a garden. There was never any interest on my part to grow and maintain a garden. I know absolutely NOTHING about anything pertaining to a garden. With that being the case, we've never had any issues pertaining to a garden. Period. End of story.
Then, last year, we moved into this house.
And there was a garden.
And everything changed ... except for the fact that I'm not a gardener and know nothing about gardening. AT ALL!
The children were pleasantly surprised, or should I say thrilled beyond belief, last spring when strawberries plants started popping up and blooms adorned them. Before we knew it there were huge, plump, delicious strawberries (though I wouldn't know, as I'm VERY allergic to strawberries). There were so many, they couldn't eat them all. We put them on ice cream, we covered them with sugar, we dipped them in cool whip ... we were STRAWBERRY HAPPY! Oh yes we were!
Having so much fun with the strawberries, we actually planted cucumbers, carrots, lettuce, green beans and tomatoes. Then, in the late summer we were surprise with an abundance of cantaloupe that we didn't even plant. It was great and the kids had a ball. They worked out in the garden daily, much to my surprise.
Here is my dilemma. Everything was ready for me last year. I moved in and the strawberries grew. Remember how I said I know nothing about gardening. Well, I never did anything to the garden last year, and now all my old, dead, strawberry plants are giving the new green ones a run for their money. They have no room to come up and I'm freaking out that there will be no strawberries and the kids will disown me as their mother.
What should I do now? Can I rake out all the old without damaging the new? Do I need to get out there right away and hand pick all the dead ones? Is there hope? Can my strawberries be saved or have I lived up to my reputation as the WORST GARDENER EVER???
All you perfect people out there ... please tell me what I need to do! Save my strawberries! It's all in your hands now. I'm counting on you!
