Vertical Strawberry Growing
Chris shares some expert knowledge & different methods of growing this popular summer fruit: “Strawberry plants typically have a lifespan of around three years after which they become quite woody and lose vigour with a corresponding drop in fruit size, hardly surprising that at six years old mine needed to be replaced!”
Picking the Variety
I grow strawberries in both traditional open ground rows and in 60 cm window boxes protected in a glass frame, which is ideal for extra early crops and to ensure good quality fruit when the weather is extremely wet. This year I am replacing all the plantings with 120 new plants bought from a specialist supplier and will also trying out a new growing system – Vertical Hanging Wall Garden Pots from Elixir Gardens. I grow a number of cultivars which are designed to give a long cropping season and very tasty fruits
Vibrant – early cropping.
Malling Centenary – early maincrop.
Marshmellow – main season cropping.
Malwina – late cropping.
With the exception of Malling Centenary, I have grown the other cultivars previously and find them excellent and easy to grow. The majority of the Marshmello will be planted on a new strawberry bed in the garden with every thing else going into containers where I can to some extent better control how early they crop.
Ensuring Good Feeding
Strawberries are easy to grow in containers but they require a compost which is slightly acidic, moisture retentive but very importantly free draining otherwise there will almost certainly be issues with root rot.
I recycle my old tomato ring compost which is quite course and fibrous and is composed of 50% peat- based compost with 50% garden compost (hedge and grass clippings). To rejuvenate it, I mix in 1 gram per litre of compost of Elixir EX4 fertiliser. This provides adequate nutrition to establish the strawberries but as their roots can be sensitive to excessive nutrients, this low level of nutrition will give the plants all the nutrients they need to start the growth process but will not harm them. As the crop grows, I switch to soluble fertilisers to supply different nutrients that are needed at different stages of growth – this approach guarantees a really good crop.
One of the great things about planting at this time of the year is that you can purchase a wide range of cultivars as bare root plants that have been lifted and cold stored. Strawberries need this cold treatment to form flower buds. They may look yellow, or have no leaves when you receive them but they will be supercharged by the artificial winter and will be rearing to grow when you plant them out. It is however important to soak them for about half an hour before planting to ensure the root systems are re hydrated as they can become quite shrivelled but will soon recover.
Prepping
I plant five plants to a standard 60 cm window box, and to ensure they are evenly spaced plant the middle plant first then the two end ones and then just fill in the gaps!
Make sure that the roots go straight down in the container leaving the crown of the plant level with the surface – do not plant too deep otherwise there is a danger the crown may rot especially if planting outside in the garden in wet conditions.
Don’t worry if there is not much to see on the surface after planting, they will root very quickly and start to grow especially if put in a frame or cold greenhouse.
I would always recommend that each container is labelled. I use coloured labels which correspond to cultivars which makes sorting and grouping the plants so much easier in future years when you take them out of the frames for trimming and cleaning as you then don’t have to read every label when putting them back in the frame.
Planting Upwards
The Vertical Hanging Wall Garden Pots are a really innovative idea to grow ornamentals, herbs and I think would be very suitable for strawberries especially if linked up to an irrigation system, enabling fruit to be grown vertically where it is easily protected from birds, takes up little space and can be brought indoors for early crops. I shall cover setting this system up in a later article but for now the priority is to get them planted.
Each sturdy plastic pot has a hanging clip and two drainage holes in the bottom.
By placing a circle of capillary matting (supplied in kit) a water reservoir is created beneath the disk to ensure the plant has its own small reserve of water and nutrients.
‘A grade’ or ‘A+’ grade strawberry crowns should be purchased which should give a crop in the first season, and for at least a further two seasons.
These are slightly more expensive than bare rooted runners but well worth it. Ensure the roots go straight down in the pot and then add compost and firm the plant in.
As with the window boxes the crown should just be level with the surface. As the compost was so wet and the plants have been soaked prior to planting, I did not water after planting so as to maximise the amount of oxygen in the compost needed for essential root growth.
Finally, the window boxes and hanging pots were set out in a closed cold frame. It is important to protect them at this stage from excessive wet until growth starts, but they don’t need any additional heat as I want them to make good strong root growth before shoot growth – the ambient late February temperatures will just be enough to provide this. Don’t worry if the old leaves completely die off after planting, they will soon be replaced by fresh green shoots.
Strawberries are without doubt the easiest fruit to grow, whether you decide on growing them in a garden, window boxes, vertical hanging pots, plastic hanging baskets or even a flower pouch now is the time to buy and plant up your bare root plants, and in a few months, you will be picking delicious strawberries.
