Nowadays, you don’t need an entire field to create a garden. You can construct a tiny garden in your indoor living area by making good use of planting pots.
Alternatively, you can create a vertical garden on your walls or trellis. All these gardening ideas help you save space and boost your home’s aesthetics.
Strawberries are one of the most popular plants grown in vertical gardens. Luckily, there are many ways you can grow strawberries in a vertical garden.
Nonetheless, ensure that the method you choose to grow your strawberries in a vertical garden complements your outdoor space and meets all your requirements.
In this article, we look at some ways to grow strawberries in a vertical garden.
Ways on how to grow strawberries garden
Here are the best and easy ways to grow a garden of strawberries.
Growing strawberries on a garden pallet
You can also create a vertical garden by growing strawberries on wooden pallets.
Below are the steps involved.
- After you come up with your garden pallet, lay it on the ground. Then, cover it with fabric at the bottom and its backside. Turn over your wooden pallet and start filling it with strawberry starting mix.
- Grow as many strawberries as the pallet can handle. Strawberries do not need a lot of growing space. Therefore, plant them at intervals of six inches. After planting, keep watering them to promote the intertwining of roots. Doing this secures the plant firmly to the ground. Also, mount your pallet horizontally on the wall.
- Gardening experts advise leaving the strawberry pallet horizontally during the first few weeks. Doing this promotes strong root growth. Leave them horizontally for approximately 14 days. During this time, ensure you fill any gaps with soil and keep watering from the bottom.
- Once two weeks are over, start mounting the strawberry garden pallet vertically. Secure it using the strongest hooks and brackets to prevent it from falling. At this stage, you will need help from one or two parties. Remember, you have to mount the vertical garden carefully, to avoid damaging the strawberry plants.
Creating a strawberry tower from a PVC pipe
You can grow strawberries vertically by creating a strawberry tower out of a PVC pipe. When using this method, ensure you have suitable planting materials.
Materials needed
Starting mix for planting
- A hole saw drill bit.
- PVC pipe measuring 6 feet (it should be the schedule 40 PVC pipe).
- A pole digger.
After you have the right equipment, set up the PVC tower. First, you will need to cut the PVC pipe to your preferred size. Gardening experts recommend using a PVC pipe of 6 feet. But you can customize the pipe to match your requirements.
Then, create holes on one end of the pipe. The holes should be 2.5 inches wide and should be one foot apart. Do not create holes in the last 12 inches of the pipe. This part of the PVC pipe will be inserted into the ground later on.
Create an extra row of holes on the other side of the PVC pipe. You should be able to create alternating holes in the pipe.
Then, make space for the PVC pipe. You would need to dig a deep hole for this. Set your PVC pipe in the deep hole.
After setting the PVC pipe, fill it with the starting mix. Then, position your strawberries and leave them to grow.
Ensure you expose the strawberry tower to light at least eight hours a day. Moreover, keep watering your strawberry plants to promote their growth.
Plastic Bottles for vertical gardening
You can create a vertical strawberry garden using plastic bottles attached to a wall or trellis. Constructing a strawberry tower using plastic bottles is cost-effective and straightforward.
All you need is 16 to 10 liters of plastic water bottles, an eight-foot square wall post or garden trellis, strawberry starting mix, screws, four pots, and spray paint. Once you have all the equipment, follow the below procedure.
Steps to creating a vertical strawberry garden using plastic bottles
- The first thing to do would be to cut the plastic bottles into halves.
- Then, paint the bottles to prevent excessive penetration of light to the plant.
- Put up the pole and ensure it is firmly held onto the ground.
- Insert screws at each of the four corners of the pole. When doing this, install your irrigation system.
- Afterward, attach the bottles to the screws. Tie the bottles using a strong string to secure them.
- Place an emitter on every end side of the pole.
- Cover the neck of every bottle with one inch of PVC pipe.
- Place the four pots on the ground (optional). The primary purpose of the pots is to absorb excess fertilizer, salt, and water.
Tips on growing strawberries in a vertical garden
Strawberries thrive in vertical gardens. They are low maintenance, edible plants. You don’t require any expertise to plant strawberries in a vertical garden.
But you have to incorporate specific tips that will help you grow healthy strawberries.
Prepare the soil
When growing strawberries, always make sure your soil is well-prepped. Use high-quality potting soil instead of gardening soil.
Gardening soil is heavy and has poor water retention properties. Thus, it won’t be able to foster the healthy growth of your strawberry plants.
Use a loose mix of soil that contains the proper organic nutrients. The soil you use to grow strawberries should also have a slightly low pH. Strawberries and other berries such as boysenberries grow well in acidic conditions.
The soil should have a pH of about 5.5 to 6.8. Ensure you have a meter reading that enables you to determine the exact pH of your soil.
Examine your growing location and climatic season
One of the first things to do before you start growing your strawberry plants is to examine the gardening season.
Typically, strawberries grow well in dormant seasons. Purchase berries that can withstand harsh winter conditions. Strawberries also love direct sunlight. So, ensure you expose them to direct sunlight for at least eight hours a day.
The location of the vertical garden should receive constant sunlight. This way, you’ll boost the growth of strawberries.
Consider starter plants and bare root forms
Instead of using seeds to grow strawberries, use their bare-root form. Doing this saves you a lot of time and effort when planting.
Even though strawberries in their bare-root form may look dead, you can revive them when you plant them.
However, you must follow the manufacturer’s guidelines when growing strawberries in their bare-root form. Also, you’ll need to give them extra care in the first two weeks. An alternative to bare roots is getting starter plants.
Do not position the crown of strawberry plants underneath the soil
Although you should bury the roots of strawberries in the soil when planting, avoid burying the crown.
The crown should not be under the soil. And this applies to both starter plants and bare root forms.
Keep watering
Like most plants, strawberries thrive when appropriately watered; gardening professionals often recommend watering strawberry plants at least thrice a week.
You may reduce the frequency in colder months to avoid overwatering. Over watering, strawberry plants can lead to severe root rot. So, before you water strawberry plants, always check whether the soil is dry.
You can do this by placing your finger two inches deep in the soil. If you feel the soil is damp, don’t water the plants.
Plant your first strawberry garden today
One of the best plants you can grow in a vertical garden is strawberries. Strawberries are edible plants that require less maintenance.
There are so many ways to grow these in vertical gardens. You can grow these plants vertically using plastic bottles or plant them on a garden pallet.
Regardless of how you plant strawberries, ensure they get enough water and nutrients for growth.