I'm trying to grow strawberries. I need help please! :)

Well this spring, I'm going to try my hand at strawberries!! I just finished building an 8 foot by 8 foot raised bed (12" high - made of natural pine (not treated)) where I will plant my strawberries, and I purchased 36 everbearing strawberries plants. ....So, I have a few questions for you all, if you could help me please. :)

1. Can I use shredded cedar mulch on my strawberries (like they sell at a nursery/landscaping place), and will it affect the taste of the strawberries?

2. What is the best mulch to use, and where can I buy it?

3. What is the best netting/barrier to use to keep rabbits and deer from eating my strawberries? Unless someone has a better idea, I am planning on using PVC plumbing to make arches over the bed - creating a tiny high tunnel house, so netting could be draped over the hoops and down the sides of the raised bed.

I'd appreciate any info and help you can give!!
Thanks!
Glenda

I forgot to ask.... Is it ok to use Preen on my strawberry bed? It works great at keeping weed seeds from growing. Strawberries grow via runners - not seeds, right??

A traditional mulch is straw. That's what I use.

Suggest you read the Preen container, as that would be the best source of information.

I'm off to shop for soil for my box. Will check on the Preen while I'm at the nursery! :)

Good luck with your strawberries! I grew about 250 alpine from seed this year and plan to plant them outside today or tomorrow. I have 6 musk strawberry plants that I got just this year - they are already blooming. The misc 80+ or so june and everbearers are starting to bloom after our heat spell. The netting with hoops sounds like a good way to keep the critters out but let the bees and other pollinators in - I'll have to try it. My dog is pretty good at keeping the woodchuck away, but he's not always outside....

I plant mine in strawbales and have great success. This is second year crop. I did nothing to them throughout the winter and just added a little soil to the top of the bales as the strawberries seem to like that.

This is what they looked like last year. Big difference eh?

tamberlin - I had to laugh about your dog keeping the critters away. My dog IS the critter! She looks for ripe berries every time she walks past the berry patch. She also loves figs, blackberries and grapes (which I discovered she shouldn't eat so don't have now).
Paul

My wonderful husband turned my 8 foot by 8 foot raised strawberry bed into an awesome "hoop house" for my strawberries!! I have summer-weight garden fabric on top (http://www.gardeners.com/Summerweight-Garden-Fabric/YardPests_Insects,11749,default,cp.html) and so far.....no rabbits or deer problems! :) My strawberry plants look happy as larks! .....I'll take a picture to post on here. :)

This is how my strawberries are looking now.

Here is a better look. Wallace doesn't like berries unless he sees me eating one then he has to at least give it a try. He isn't spoiled, no, not a bit. Heheh