I'm pretty good at growing most things but I suck at growing strawberries. I'm not sure what I do wrong but they never seem to do very well.
Working at a friends house today I think I saw the answer.
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| Strawberries in guttering |
I know growing plants in guttering isn't new but I thought this was a great use of space and at "toddler" hight a great way for children to pick their own.
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| Great use of space |
There were loads of strawberries ready to eat and I imagine it's far easier to control any runners or weeds and watering would be straight forward!
I might have to try this on our fence at the front of the house next year and see if we can grow a few more berries this way. I've got some old guttering saved from a job back in the winter that would be ideal for it.
Anyone else been growing in this way or similar?
Great idea! Growing strawberry on the long slim container. That's really save the space. Thank for sharing the idea.
ReplyDeleteNo problem - glad you like it! Shame it wasn't my idea!
DeleteI may have a go at this, makes sense and would be a lot easier I think x
ReplyDeleteI think its just easier to manage and see whats going on with your plants. Although they are totally dependant on you for water so need a little extra care.
DeleteSaw them once grown in long boxes on legs. A bit like a table. The boxes were about 18 inches by 6 foot by a foot deep and had strawberries hanging on all sides. Massive crop! Should be a doddle for you Kev.
ReplyDeleteMight try it myself now that the ground is getting further away!
Yeah, gutter could do with being a little deeper, that way they wouldn't be quite so affected by drought and things.
DeleteHave you seen the strawberry planter made from a pallett on 'Lovely Greens' blog? Just another idea to keep costs down too.
ReplyDeleteNo I'll go have a look - not that I need any more blogs to follow!
DeleteIt would be too cold to over winter here, they would have to be moved or something. It would be a neat thing to use because it could be watered easily.
ReplyDeleteYeah I could see how the frosts here could damage the roots. It's one of those things I'd have to try and see how it went. I could always move it inside in the greenhouse over the winter.
DeleteWe are trying something different with some strawbs next year too. Like Gill, the ground is a long way down.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there is enough soil in the guttering, worth a try though.
Thats my only concern, but they've got loads of strawberries on theirs so it seems to be working. I guess you could even go one step further and grow them hydrophonicly
DeleteThat looks brillant, will have a go next year. I am fed up of feeding slugs strawberries.
ReplyDeleteI keep a good population of slugs well fed around here as well!
DeleteCould you think of anything more quintessentially English than good old strawberries and cream? Yet I do believe our modern strawberry originates in Chile.
ReplyDeleteDoes anybody actually grow them on straw any more? We grew ours in a fish box filled with compost in the poly-tunnel this year. No slugs, snails, birds and absolutely delicious.
I think me and you should do a book on the origins of fruit and veg! I've got straw around my plants but very few berries!
DeleteGutters worked well for my lettuce.
ReplyDeletehttp://isserfiq.blogspot.com/2014/06/gutter-lettuce.html
I was thinking about your lettuce as I wrote this post! I should have added a link in sorry. On Pinterest theres some great designs for vertical growing.
DeleteFunny thing is after my success with the lettuce I was thinking of trying strawberries in the gutter myself before you posted about it. I had craploads of vinyl guttering I ripped of the house and threw away after saving it for a few years, cause around here it just fills up with ice. Now I wish I'd kept it for planting in.
DeleteI have not tried this, I planted quite a few strawberries in the cinder block holes of one of my raised beds this year. We will see how this works, so far so good. My friend is doing this gutter method next spring. It seems to be catching on. Hope yours do good!
ReplyDeleteI use special clay strawberry pots, but at 9 plants to each pot, they're not very practical.
ReplyDeleteWhat a good idea,
ReplyDeleteI think I'll try something similar, along the long and slim lines but not in guttering, maybe a long slim bed along the length between my poly and net tunnels (when they are up), I wasn't sure what to do with the narrow space but it would give then brilliant protection from frosts and be slightly deeper than guttering.