Content
Gardeners are an original people, and if the site is also small, they will find many fantastic ways to grow the maximum number of cultivated plants, while saving the sown area. As a rule, these are combined landings. But some lovers of productive beds have gone even further. They began to use any container for planting.
One interesting option is the use of vertical containers for growing garden strawberries. For gardeners, even with great experience, the question immediately arises of how to care for such plantings, what agrotechnical standards must be adhered to. Let's say right away that a strawberry in a barrel saves not only space, but also simplifies care and harvesting.
Pros and cons
What are the advantages
Growing strawberries in a barrel is gaining popularity among both experienced and novice gardeners.
In addition to saving space on the site, there are many more advantages:
- The number of planted strawberry bushes is significantly increasing. Depending on the height and volume of the barrel, up to 100 seedlings per square meter can be planted.
- The fruits remain clean, since they do not come into contact with the ground, therefore, strawberries do not undergo putrefactive processes.
- On vertical beds, mice, snails and slugs do not manage, they cannot get to the berries.
- Plants warm up well, yield increases.
- Collecting strawberries in a barrel is not difficult, you don't have to bow to each berry.
- No need for weeding.
- Barrels for growing strawberries are easy to buy, although you can use the old ones.
It can be placed anywhere on the site. Look at the photo, isn't it great!
Minuses
Do not sing only praises of planting remontant strawberries in barrels. For any plus there is always a minus. What nuances do gardeners pay attention to in their reviews:
- Feeding strawberries in the barrel should be carried out weekly.
- The soil dries faster and requires frequent watering. In addition, a lot of moisture accumulates in the bottom of the barrel, while the ground is already dry at the top.
- Vertically installed beds strawberries should be mobile in regions of risky farming, for example, in Siberia and the Urals. For the winter, you will have to clean the barrels in a warm place. On the street, the soil freezes to the ground, plants die even with a major shelter.
- Most often, you have to plant strawberry bushes in the barrel every year.
In the photo below, strawberries are planted in a mobile barrel.
In them, everything is already adapted for planting the cultivation of berry bushes. Such a barrel with strawberries can even be placed on a balcony or loggia. Look at the photo how such a device looks like.
Barrel strawberry varieties
After you have decided on the way to grow fragrant berries, you need to choose the right variety. Today, thanks to the hard work of breeders, it is not so easy to do this. When you read the description of garden strawberries, it seems that there is no better variety.
Experienced gardeners who have been vertical planting strawberries in barrels for more than one year, are advised to opt for remontant varieties, as the most stable and viable in any climatic region.
We offer a list of the most popular varieties strawberries for vertical cultivation in barrels. Most often, gardeners are advised to use:
- Balcony charm and Homemade delicacy;
- Aluboy and Tribute;
- Geneva and Freestar;
- Albion and Lyubava;
- Queen Elizabeth and Gigantella Maxi;
- Crown and Kimberly;
- Brighton and various varieties of curly strawberries.
Features of the preparation of the "bed"
Not every barrel can be used for vertical planting of garden strawberries or strawberries.
But its preparation must be approached responsibly, taking into account the special nuances. Let's walk through this process step by step:
Step 1 - preparing the container
- First, holes are drilled in the strawberry barrel to drain the water. Secondly, you need to mark the places where the seedlings will be planted. Correct markings are staggered. In this case, each strawberry bush will receive a sufficient portion of the sun's heat and light. The hole should be 5x5 so that the soil does not spill out and the plant is comfortable.
- The edges of the hole, if the barrel is metal, must be bent inside the barrel and pressed firmly. If the barrel is made of a different material, then you just need to cut a hole.
If you want not only to use a barrel for planting strawberries, but also to decorate your area with it, then the container can be painted and even decorated. Painting will extend the shelf life of a wooden or metal barrel. Look at the photo below, how one of the gardeners did it. In addition, in this version, not only cuts are made, but peculiar pockets.
Step 2 - drain cushion
To grow strawberries vertically, it is necessary to provide each plant with sufficient water. Since the height of the container is large enough, the load will fall on the bottom layer of the landings. In this place, the soil will be waterlogged. In order to prevent stagnation of water, a drainage layer must be created in the barrel.
Coarse gravel is used as drainage, which fills the lower part of the barrel. Then a pipe with a diameter of at least 15-20 cm with drilled holes is installed in the center. It can be wrapped in burlap so that the holes are not clogged with earth. Gravel is also poured into the inner part - this is vertical drainage. Thanks to such a device, water will be distributed over the entire height of the laid soil.
Step 3 - soil for the "bed"
The space between the pipe and the walls when growing strawberries in a barrel is filled with fertile soil. This will require:
- sod land - 2 parts;
- sand - 1 part;
- wood ash;
- mineral fertilizers according to the instructions;
- organic matter - compost or humus.
How to plant seedlings
The strawberry barrel should be placed vertically in a sunny location so that all sides are evenly heated and illuminated throughout the day.
Now let's take a look at how to properly plant strawberry seedlings in the holes. Do not immediately fill the container with soil to the top. Then it will be more difficult to plant the strawberries in the growing barrel. First, the space is filled with soil up to the first holes, lightly tamped. Garden strawberry seedlings are inserted into the holes, the root system is straightened, watered and the soil is partially added again. Further steps are identical.
When the entire volume of the tub is filled, several bushes are also planted on top.Strawberries in a barrel feel comfortable if you continue to adhere to the rules of agricultural cultivation.
When planting strawberry seedlings in a barrel, it is almost impossible to avoid damaging it. One of the gardeners, in his reviews of vertical plantings, offers a painless option for strawberries. A strip should be cut out of thin tin and the upper part of the seedling should be wrapped in it. Together with the straw, the strawberries are pushed into the hole of the barrel. After disembarking, the tube is removed. Look at the photo below for how convenient it is to work.
For several days, until the strawberry seedlings take root, the vertical bed must be shaded. You need to water every day through the drainage pipe. In extreme heat, you can spray the leaves with a spray bottle.
Care rules
Cultivation and care in vertical plantings is reduced to timely watering and feeding of strawberries. Foliar feeding is carried out with Fitosporin, Alirin-B with Gumi. There are no toxins in these biologically active preparations, you can eat berries immediately after feeding. Herbal infusions have a good effect on strawberry yield. You need to feed on the sheet three times:
- After planting to build up green mass.
- Before flowering.
- In the autumn after harvest.
After a year, the planting of strawberries is renewed. In warm regions, it is sufficient to wrap the barrel with burlap. In more severe climates, you will have to think about capital insulation or cleaning the barrels in a frost-free room.
