Here's the thing...

You cannot go wrong if the plant already has flowers/berries on it at time of purchase!

Two strawberries! Two strawberries I have grown and eaten! This has been my most successful strawberry endeavour yet, and it was so easy because I made sure to buy a plant with two berries already on it.

That really is all there is to it! And now, when the plant dies (by my reckoning, since it's been going ok for about a month, it can surely only have a week left), it won't be a failure because.. you know... the season is almost over...