Mara de Bois strawberry stand

The Mara de Bois strawberries are doing so splendidly that Man of the House solved the problem of limited space by building a stand to start stacking up the planters.  What's nice is that some of the wood is upcycled from an Ikea mattress support board, and the paint was leftover from last year's dog house color.

I am completely sold on Mara's.  They do well in planters and so far haven't presented any health issues.  I've already potted up 10 'daughters' out of 22 plants, and as you can see, they're already putting out blossoms of their own.

Information online says that you can sever the daughters from the mother plant at 4-6 weeks, but as I potted them with roots already growing out of the base, I cut them loose after 10 days.  All of them did suffer (wilted) for a day or two, but after watering them well and placed into a cool, shaded area, they sprung back to life in no time.  The daughters are putting out new leaves (I snip off the blossoms, it's pointless to leave them on at the current growth stage) and I feed them a weak solution of fish emulsion every week.

I thought Mara de Bois produced small to medium-sized berries and they do for the most part, but every so often I get a fairly large one like this. In shortcakes, turned into jam, or eaten fresh are the ways I've been using them. Picked when perfectly ripe (I actually smell them before picking), Mara's are sublime. If I can harvest at least half a dozen large ones at once, dipping them in a variety of chocolate will be the next thing to try.