Last year they fell. The rope cut through them. So I decided to make them into strawberry containers. The biggest thing about strawberries is you have to bury them the right way. Roots under ground. Crown above ground. Here are some quick picks to give you an idea.
The supplies... Drill with the largest bit I have. You could by a larger bit but I would have had to go out to the store. You typically want to use a 3/4 inch flat tipped drill bit. The damaged bucket and 10 June bearing strawberries from Walmart. You can buy large plants but 10 would cost you about $30. This bag was $5 but they all won't survive.
The large drill bit is set up and the strawberries are out of the bag. They are mostly root. The crowns have very little green. I cleaned up the bucket removing he busted handle and rope. The bucket is cracked but it will work for this year.
Basically I drilled 6 holes around the container. The drill was easy to control because the bucket is plastic. I drilled the hole and then used the edges of the drill to make the hole about the size of a quarter.
A nest of black flies attacked me from under the deck. Ah just kidding that is the shavings from the drilling.
Fill your container with good potting soil. Because your are using buckets or containers, you want moisture control garden soil or make sure you have a lot of organic matter in it. Fill the container to just below the holes.
The crown is above my finger nail. The roots are below my finger nail. This plant has a green stem growing. You want to have the crown above ground and the roots fully covered with soil.
This shows to much root coming out of the hole. The hole's edge should divide the plant right where the crown and roots meet.
This is the right way. The roots are tucked back into the bucket so only the crown shows.
Place all the plants in the container and gently spread the roots out.
Fill to the top. The three plants that I had left, looked pretty beat up. I doubt they will grow but I planted them in the top of the bucket. If they take great, if not I might buy some larger strawberry plants. Maybe I will even plant kale in there. I'd have strawberries around the container and kale on top. It's the darn flash that makes the last couple pictures look odd.
Total cost is about $18 for all the materials and plants. Not to shabby.
I have been following your blog for almost 2 mths now and have to say thank you.
ReplyDeleteI am trying to start a strawberry container garden using strawberry pots. I have made two attempts but am not sure what I am doing wrong.
The first try I used an ever-bearing strawberry root (pkg similar to the one in your pic above). I thought I placed them corrected per your detailed directions/pictures in terms of the crown/root but it is about a month now since and I still see no green growing. Is it possible to put too much fertilizer? Do I give up? Or is there something else I can do? If I do discard, can I reuse the dirt for another try at strawberries (or another plant?)
The second try I used an ever-bearing transplant from a local nursery. There were five in a container. It took me about a week before I could transplant them, but even them I saw quite a bit of growth from each plant. Then I transplanted them. I will say that the root network was quite entangled and perhaps I damaged them too much by trying to separate, but almost immediately, they limped over within the pot. I placed them in the shade for two days waiting for roots to get established, but the leaf edges started turning brown. I placed them in the sun, leaves continued to brown. It has been about a week now and there is still green, but definitely not much growth if any. I do notice a few growing a bit of fuzz on top of the moss - do they have the disease? Did I over water? Can I save them?
Thank you again.