Preparing my Honeoye strawberry bed after the winter

Two years ago I purchased 25 Honeoye (pronounced like "honey-oy) strawberry plants because they are cold hardy for NY and they are good producers of fruit. The first summer, after the planting, I just trimmed the flowers and the runners RELIGIOUSLY and for that reason we did not enjoy any strawberries. That was done so the plants would create strong root system. Last year, though, we collected at least 14 quarts of strawberries. I covered them with chicken wire and protected them from the squirrels and birds. 

Last November I weeded the bed and covered them with 10" of straw. The stayed there, covered in snow all winter. Now though, that there is no chance of snow the time has come for me to clean up the bed.

First, let me say that most materials I used to create the beds were either free or purchased form Restore in Newburgh.

The following picture shows the bed after I removed the thick layer of straw. After removing the straw I placed it temporarily close to this bed because I would need it to add it to the strawberry bed.

Here I am removing any dead strawberry branches and weeds. I try not to disturb the light coating of straw that exists between the strawberries. Last year I noticed that all of my weeds grew right next to the edge of the bed and there was very little straw there covering the dirt. Live and learn.

Here I am adding straw back to the bed. You can see on the left side of the screen the pile of straw that I removed from the strawberry bed. I used most of that to add it back between the plants and the edges of the bed. It's not hard work, but it helps if you have something to kneel on, like my yoga mat.

Here I'm adding more straw around and on top of the plants. The layer that I've added on top is loose and the plants will grow nicely. 

The whole process took less than 45 minutes. There were quite a few dead branches that I've removed and quite a few weeds. Also I pulled about six or seven plants that I already gave my good neighbors. They have been very generous with contributing many buckets a leaves for my beds. Good stuff. 

Happy gardening!