Grow Your Own Magazine

I'm sure there are ways around growing strawberries in a small garden but I'd really like to avoid buying those expensive strawberry tubs (with holes) that you see in the garden centres and DIY stores.

I like the idea of a strawberry tower, upto 5 feet high. I'm thinking of stacking up several plastic pots with holes drilled at the side (if it doesn't crack). Has anybody tried this?

I've heard of 'strawberry pyramid' but presumably this requires building something that is a DIY job. Then there is the 3 tiers cast iron basket stand which I've seen in GC. Hanging basket is another option but I do love my flowering hanging baskets so can't sacrifice much. Flower pouch is another option...

Any cheap but practical ideas (or even failed attempts so that I would know) much appreciated.

__________________
Food for Free

how about 3 pots of different sizes - fill bottom one with compost, plant middle-size pot in the middle of it. Fill middle-size pot with compost, plant small pot in it. Fill small pot with compost. You should have a 3-tier thingummyjig by then, to fill with strawbs.
It might work!

__________________
~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

I've toyed with the idea of using a blue plastic water barrel!

Get a hot air paint stripper to heat a knife to cut the holes, gently warm below the holes with stripper and lever out with pliers or mole grips to form a bulge so that compost doesn't fall out. Stand a perforated pipe or tube of chicken mesh in the middle, fill outside with compost and inside tube with gravel or couse sand! Bob's your Uncle, put strawberry plants in pockets and you have a ready made, easy to water, planter!

PS Maybe better to give water barrel a lick of terracotta paint, as well!

__________________
My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

great idea, have seen it done with a compost dalek before but didnt think about using a plastic barrel, may give it a go if i can get my hands on another barrel.

if anyone has done this, can we have some piccies?

__________________
Kernow rag nevra http://www.cornishnotenglish.com/

The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits
Albert Einstein

Just be ordinary and nothing special. Eat your food, move your bowels, pass water and when your'e tired go and lie down. The ignorant will laugh at me, but the wise will understand
Bruce Lee

My experience with strawberry towers is that they don't really work. The plants at the top never seem to get enough water, and the ones at the bottom get too much. I grow strawberries in the ground on the lottie, and in the back garden I have a trough and a cheap plastic jardiniere. Both work well, but if you want more height I think I would go for one of those three tier standing basket thingys from the garden centre. At least that way you can water each "container" separately according to need.

Maybe a good use could be made of all the water retaining granules I have left from this year?

__________________
My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

I know where I can get my hands on a big water bucket and that sounds good to me! I over ordered on strawberries this year and this would be the perfect answer and stop the thieves on the plot getting them before me.

__________________
Derbyshire born Derbyshire bred & I'm not thick int'arm ort'ead!

Thank you all for your useful suggestions, ideas and also about the bad experience with the tower style planting. Give me something to think about.

I found some useful websites Googled on 'Space Saving Strawberry' and found this.
http://www.allaboutstuff.com/garden_...rawberries.asp

Best of all, I like this growing unit called Agro-Tower Grow Pots, but cost lots I guess and not available in UK.
www.growpots.com/photo_gallery.html

__________________
Food for Free

I've used this method in the past with three plastic terracotta-look pots from Poundstretcher. The bottom one was aobut 2 foot diamater and the top one about a foot.

You need to about half to two thirds fill the bottom pot then put the next one in and fill round the sides with plants and more compost to anchor the pot in. Then repeat for the top pot. If you just try to balance them on top of the full pot of compost it's too unstable.

To save the amoount of compost need to fill, particlarly the big bottom pot I used broken up polystyrene trays in the bottom.

Hope that helps

i posted a fairly simillar post in early summer,went down to GC and looked at 3 tier baskets.the 10 quid one looks unsteady and the descent one cost about £35.decided to give it a miss for this year .

__________________
goddess

I once saw strawberries grown in old tyres.The biggest tyre,from maybe a lorry,was on the ground and smaller and smaller tyres put on top.
The best thing was,all these tyres were free! I would try it if space were at a premium.

Sounds like a good idea Polly!

__________________
My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

Hi veg4681,

I thought the same, so made one on Sunday 11th March out of wooden gravel boards on top of a redundant chest freezer, and we've had gorgeous strawbs all summer long. If you check out the bit under my signature, because we're not allowed to openly promote that bit anymore, so I won't, you'll come across a picture eventually?
(on account of I don't know how to post pictures, and Trousers is snoring now!)
Good luck with yours....

__________________
With Love,
Wellie

Give it some....

http://hollycottagegarden.blogspot.com
BLOG UPDATED Sunday 2nd November at 19.30hrs

Hi Wellie,

Thanks a lot, I've checked out your wonderful blog and I think I should be able to build on from the info there. Also very useful reading about the soil preparation for the strawb...an area where I'm too naive.

Drawing from your design principal, I could use paddling pool style of pot (still no reason why you can't use children's pool, seen it on internet somewhere) as this is likely to be more stable for a tower effect then layer upward with series of smaller pots (made up of lawn edging)...since I have a spare green plastic lawn edging lying around, then again no reason why you can use other types of lawn edger.

If I'm going to end up with a base pot that is quite wide, I'd prefer it to be sitting on a higher ground, e.g. table or even over bricked up compost area.
My garden space is limited and I don't want neigbour to think I'm starting a strawberry farm!

__________________
Food for Free

If you have spare green plastic lawn edging lying around...........howabout using it to make a raised conical spiral for planting into????? Should be relatively easy to achieve if you have a large reel of it!

__________________
My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

Sounds absolutely splendid! Yeah, you do get more room within each tier below a tower system. Doesn't it get better and better? We (all post contributors) should all be proud.

__________________
Food for Free

I've got a load of small terracota pots and a spare post, thinking of planting strawberries into the pots and then attaching them to the post to save on ground space and go for height. Do you think this will work, any ideas for attaching the pots to the post?

__________________
Best wishes
Andrewo
Harbinger of Rhubarb tales

You could drill though the post and thread through some rotproof cord then run each end of the cord through the hole in the bottom of the pots and tie a short stick (to secure the cord). Fill the pair of pots with soil and plant up. Voila!

Do more than a couple of times, vary the length of your cords and you will have a strawberry maypole!

__________________
Hazel
www.hazelandjanesallotment.blogspot.com
update Sat 15/11/2008......there's gold in them thar...compost bins!......

Thanks Hazel, good term for it, a strawberry maypole is born

__________________
Best wishes
Andrewo
Harbinger of Rhubarb tales