How to Grow Strawberries in Your Deck Gardens With Strawberry Pots
Strawberries are high in antioxidants, vitamin C, fiber, and to top it all off,they taste good! You can put them in pancakes, ice cream, salad, pies, yogurt, or just in your mouth. They are good for your heart and they aren’t shipped from halfway around the world because they grow locally. In fact, you can save some cash and start a hobby by cultivating them in your deck gardens, and it won’t be too much of a chore because they are among the easiest fruits you can grow.
Types Of Strawberries
There are three categories of strawberries you can use for in your deck gardens:
June-Bearing, Ever Bearing, and Day Neutral.
- June-Bearing – These bear fruit once a year at around June. Because it’s a one-time crop, it will be large and concentrated.
- Ever Bearing – Ever bearing strawberries produce one crop in the spring and another in the late summer or early fall.
- Day Neutral – These produce berries continuously throughout the warm weather season from late spring to early fall.
How To Plant Strawberries In A Strawberry Pot
The great thing about deck gardens is that they do not take up a lot of space. You can use any size pot that you would like.While you can plant strawberries in ordinary pots, they limit the growing space to the soil surface at the top of the pot. Strawberry pots have multiple large holes along their sides where strawberry plants can be planted. In short, you can plant more strawberries for a given amount of soil.
The easiest planting method is to plant the strawberry bare root crowns as you fill the pot with soil. Using a loose loamy potting mix, fill the pot until you reach the first level of holes. Place a separate plant into each hole on the first level. Cover the roots with the soil but make sure the crown is just above the soil surface. Then water the soil in the pot (the soil should be packed tight so the water doesn’t drain out the holes). Place some more soil into the pot until the second level of holes is reached, then repeat the planting and watering procedure. Continue until all the holes along the side of the pot has plants. Avoid filling the pot all the way to the top with soil. Leave room so that you don’t wash the soil out of the pot when watering.
The plants need 6-8 hours of sun every day. Position the pot so that all the plants get sunlight exposure or rotate the pot every few days. Do your watering whenever the soil feels dry about an inch below the surface. Avoid water logging the soil. One consideration to bear in mind when choosing the pot size is that smaller pots are easier to rotate and move around but dry out faster and will require frequent watering. Large pots are heavier but retain water longer.
For more information about enhancing and maintaining your deck, so that it looks just as beautiful as your deck gardens, contact us today.