Hi, 

I have a 20 x 20 foot strawberry patch in my front yard.  I have never trimmed or thinned the plants (over 20 years) and because i want to put them into rows (WAY too hard to pick strawberries in the middle) I am reading about how to do so.  But everything says to transplant strawberries in the early spring - which is problematic for me both on what i'm doing then, and the soil is cold, and it's on the north side of my house so it takes quite a while for the snow to melt and the ground to warm up.

Is there another time of year that i can do that?   I'm not sure where I'm going to find the space, but i would really like to renew the bed/plants (berries are quite small and yield is so-so, given the size of the patch) and to make it easier to get among them and pick.

The other issue is my neighbor who feeds squirrels (have not been able to get him to stop), so i have rigged a huge cover of chicken wire, supported by a wood frame i put in every year.  So I'd need to continue to protect them in the new configuration.  

So main question is timing on transpanting/moving/thinning - something other than early spring?    And configuration - any ideas other than rows?

My lot has limited sunny areas, but there is a spot in the back that i could potentially use, too.

Thanks much

Lisa Evans