The weather clearly is not going to cooperate so I planted the damn strawberries and they are on their own to deal with Mother Nature.
On a good note, I found a big old earthworm when I dug down to plant the strawberry mass of entangled whatever it was and I’m pretty sure that’s a good sign. Now I just have to make sure that no one throws poison on my lawn or garden… though I wonder if you can call it a garden if the only thing in it is a nest of strawberry roots.