Out of the Weeds

Turning a weed infested yard into a lush paradise is a big task...one we're tackling one step at a time. You'll hear how we're going about it, what we found that works, and what missteps we'll take along the way.
by JasonL

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Growing Strawberries at Home

Out of the Weeds

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One of my wife's favorite foods is strawberries but since it's normally hard to find good ones in the store we decided to try growing our own. Here's how we did it, and you can too.

Strawberries have several different blooming times and we ended up buying a variety pack* so we could have strawberries throughout the spring and summer. We also went with day-neutral strawberries so that the fruit would be spread out over the coming months instead of coming all at once.

Instead of putting them in the ground we settled on using strawberry pots. One issue we read about with using them is that it can be hard to get water to the lower plants. We found a great article solving this problem. Here's our step by step version of it:

Equipment

Strawberry Plants
Strawberry Pots
Gravel
1"-2" PVC Pipe
Potting Soil
Slow Release Fertilizer
Mesh of Some Kind
Tape

Tools

Hand Saw or PVC Pipe Cutter
Power Drill w/ 1/8" Drill Bit

Instructions

	1Purchase some strawberry pots with enough holes for the amount of strawberry plants you have. Here's a good article about some different strawberry pots.
	2Set your pipe into the pot and mark it about 1/2 inch above the top of the pot. You want it to stick over the top slightly so it's still easy to find even after the plants get bigger.
	3Using your saw, cut the pipe where your marked it. Then using the 1/8" drill bit drill holes about 2 inches apart up and down the pipe on 4 sides. I ended up with 6 holes per side, for a total of 24.
	4It's now time to attach your mesh. This is just to keep the gravel in the pipe, so you can use whatever is handy. I had a bunch of gardening cloth lying around, but you could also use panty hose or screening of some type. Cut enough that it will overlap the end and then just attach it. Duct tape works well, but make sure you don't cover up the bottom of the hole with the tape.
	5Now fill the pipe with gravel and place it into the pot. Fill the pot up to the first openings with potting soil. It's also a good idea to use slow-release fertilizer to help feed the strawberries as they grow.
	6Set one strawberry plant into each hole and add enough soil to cover their roots. Be sure to press down around the plant to pack the soil in.
	7Fill the pot with soil to the next set of openings and plant strawberries in those openings. Continue until the openings in the pot are full of plants. Be sure to press the soil down so it's nice and packed.
	8Finish filling the pot with soil and plant a few strawberries in the opening on top.
	9Just set in a sunny location, water the pot through the pipe, and you should be set for a good strawberry harvest in a few months.

*Note: Park Seed is what I've used for almost everything I've gotten and I've had good results with their products. However, I am also an affiliate of theirs, so if you'd feel more comfortable you could also find similar items at your local nursery or from many other places online.

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