Vertical beds for strawberries with their own hands of tires and grids: reviews, photos

Everyone knows that the strawberry is the queen of the garden. As a rule, not a single gardener-amateur can do on his site without these beautiful, useful and tasty berries. Vertical beds for strawberries - this is an excellent replacement for the usual method of planting, which takes quite a lot of space on the site.

What can be vertical beds

Vertical beds for strawberries are one of the ways to grow these wonderful berries, allowing you to save space in the garden.

At the present time, a great number of various designs of various shapes and heights have been invented. Often used boxes that are installed in several tiers, or bags, suspended on a pole and filled with soil. Also used plastic containers and bottles, car tires, pipes, etc. They are placed in the form of a pyramid or stack. Equip vertical beds can be in the garden, greenhouse, front garden and if desired even in the middle of the yard, as the original design is able to decorate the landscape design of absolutely any site.

Vertical beds for strawberries: reviews

According to the reviews of gardeners, such designs have a number of advantages.

The undoubted advantage of vertical cultivation of strawberries is a significant space saving. With this method of planting, plant bushes are placed one above the other and do not occupy a large area. Yield with proper care with one square meter of such structures can be higher than the usual planting in 6-7 times. For a normal growth of a strawberry bush, it will be sufficient to have a height of 26-30 cm, so that on a column of 2 m you can place about 7 tiers. This greatly facilitates the care that the bushes produce a short mustache, which does not take root. Care of plants, removal of their antennae, fertilizing, picking berries and other work is much easier, compared with the usual planting of strawberries. Vertical beds for strawberries allow at a time without much difficulty to process from 6 to 15 bushes.

Another considerable advantage of vertical beds is a fairly simple care. Due to the fact that the seedlings or berries are high, when weeding or harvesting it will not be necessary to bend low and "tear" the back.

Due to the fact that the vertical beds for strawberries are located high from the ground, the roots of plants and berries are protected from damage by small pests and rodents. And due to the pyramidal or cylindrical shape of the structure, birds can not land on it and eat the crop.

Growing strawberries on such beds is especially attractive for children, who are very enthusiastic to take care of plants. In addition, they can eat berries directly from the bushes without prior washing.

Specificity of cultivation

Growing strawberries on vertical beds has some peculiarities:

• Limited amount of soil. As a rule, a vertical bed for strawberries consists of containers installed above each other or having an elongated upward shape. Due to this, the volume of soil in them is not as large as in the usual bed.
• Difficulty with watering. The soil, which has a limited volume, quickly dries up, so it will have to be watered almost every day. If it is not possible to often appear on the site, then it makes sense to think about drip irrigation. There is another little trick: the soil in the vertical beds will remain wet longer if it is added with hydrogel (small balls absorbing and retaining water during irrigation, and then giving it to the plant). You can buy it in almost every garden or flower shop.
• Higher requirements for top dressing. In small amounts of soil nutrients are quickly "eaten away" by plants. Almost two weeks after planting, they will need additional feeding from the outside. To feed strawberries with fertilizers will have regular - at least once a week.
• Freezing of the soil in winter. In winter, the soil, which is in vertical beds, turns into a dense, firm and impenetrable coma. The roots of the plant do not stand the test cold and die. To prevent this from happening, the original vertical bed for strawberries is conceived as mobile, portable. In this case, during the cold season, it can be brought into the non-freezing room.

Some tips for the arrangement of vertical beds

Before you make a vertical crop for strawberries, we recommend that you read several valuable tips:

• Volumetric constructions of vertical beds are best collected immediately in a permanent place, because there may be some difficulties with their transportation;
• Beds with berries are located on the sunny side;
• The soil for filling containers must be prepared in advance. It includes peat, sandy loam, hydrogel and fertilizers (perfectly matched composted compost);
• Vertical rows of strawberries with their own hands should be placed as close to the water as possible, because they will have to be watered quite often;
• Also need to immediately think about protecting the structure in winter: whether it will be brought into the room, sheltered, etc.

Vertical bed of PVC pipes

For work you will need:

• PVC pipe, having a diameter of more than 150 mm;
• A PVC pipe, which has a diameter of 100 mm, and a length greater than the previous one by 15 cm;
• Drill and chisel;
• Burlap and rope;
• Stub or reinforced tape ;
• Soil, drainage and seedlings.

Stages of work:

• First of all, the pipes need to be cut to the required height. It should be remembered that a pipe with a smaller diameter should be 10-15 cm longer than the main one.
• In the upper part of a narrow pipe, designed for watering plants, it is necessary to drill the holes necessary for water infiltration.
• To protect the structure from clogging, it is best to coat the irrigation pipe with a piece of non-woven fabric or burlap and rewind tightly with a strong rope. The lower end, which does not have holes, is closed with adhesive tape.
• Now drill in a tube with a large diameter holes for the strawberry. This is done with a drill with a special nozzle. The most optimal size is considered 15 cm, the location of each other is about 20-25 cm. From the bottom is left an indentation from the ground of at least 15-20 cm.
• Further down on the pipe should be put on the plug, install the structure vertically and securely attach to the support.
• Now we put a narrow watering pipe into it, and a gap of 10 cm between them is filled with gravel or expanded clay.
• We fall asleep heavily on the rest of the space and fill it up step by step with water so that no air layers remain.
• In the holes we plant strawberry bushes.

All subsequent care for plants - regular watering, which occurs through a narrow tube. In the future, all fertilizers will be applied only in liquid form.

Vertical beds from polyethylene bags

Make such compact vertical beds can be at home on their own. For this you need to purchase:

• Strong film thickness of 0.2 mm or more;
• Sewing machine;
• Sharp knife;
• Soil and seedlings.

Stages of work:

• First of all, you need to cut two rectangles, the size of which corresponds to the future vertical bed, but taking into account the allowance on each side of approximately 1.5-2 cm.
• Sew them together or solder with a special soldering iron, sew a strong handle that can withstand the weight of the bag with the ground.
• The bag that turned out to be densely filled with nutrient-damp earth.
• Make cuts for planting strawberries (the distance between them should be about 20 cm).
• Plant the seedlings.
• Further care - regular watering and fertilizer.

Vertical beds from automobile tires

The owners of cars sometimes wear out the tires, which can also be used to get remarkable vertical beds.

For work it is necessary to prepare:

• Tires of different sizes;
• A chisel;
• Wooden block;
• Soil and seedlings.

Due to the metal cord, available in the rim of the tires, there is no need for frame equipment. A vertical strawberry bed made of tires is performed as follows:

• First of all, make holes for seedlings, using a chisel for this. We put the tire on the shoe and from the inside we punched in several places "windows".
• Install it on a permanent place and fill it with dirt for stability.
• The subsequent tires are prepared in the same way and stacked in the form of a pyramid to the desired height. However, it should be taken into account that too high a vertical bed for strawberries will cause inconvenience during watering.
• We fill the assembled structure with earth, carefully plant the seedlings into the holes, water and wait for the first strawberry to appear.

Vertical beds, photos of which are presented in our article, look very harmonious not only in the garden, but also on the balcony.

Method of the second

It will be necessary for him:

• Tires of different diameters;
• Soil and plants.

Stages of work:

• We simply put tires in the form of a pyramid (we do not make holes), starting with the largest diameter and ending with the smallest.
• On top, if desired, you can arrange the pots.
• The soil falls asleep step by step, after installing each subsequent tire.

Another option - a vertical bed for strawberries from the grid. The remains of the building mesh must be bent in the form of a pipe, fixed, from inside the walls, lined with a film and filled with soil. In the right places, the film is broken in a checkerboard pattern and planted seedlings of strawberries. In the future, she will release a mustache, which will also bear fruit. Plant the seedlings from above, so that the mustache, lowering, could take root below. That's all! However, it should be borne in mind that on the sunny side berries ripen faster, and with the shade they may not appear at all. And yet, plants require frequent and abundant watering.

But what about in the winter?

The best way to help winterize is to take it out with a clod of soil, bury it in the ground and water it well. One must not forget to compact the soil around. In addition, the plant is harvested only when necessary.

Vertical beds for strawberries in winter can be stored indoors or on the balcony. For this, when frosts begin to set in and the soil in the container will freeze, it is necessary to cover the strawberries on top with sawdust in such a way that the temperature below them is not lower than -4 ^o C. When a thaw occurs, ventilate the plants, since the positive temperatures are able to cause Propping up. In the spring, as soon as there is a steady positive temperature, around the beginning of March, you need to free the strawberries from shelter.

Growing strawberries on the balcony

Strawberries can be grown in many ways, for example, in containers that have different modifications. Looks great on the balcony cascade or slide from pots, having different sizes. In addition, for a vertical bed, conventional bags that are sewn from a material used in horticulture (for example, from spangbond or other agro-soil that passes air and moisture) can be used. These bags are suspended or put on a pallet.

Also, some make their own hands vertical beds, similar to the trellis. To make it, take a garden metal mesh, twist it in the form of a pipe and fasten it.

Inside the mesh insert a sewn bag of agrofiber, fix it and cut through it holes for planting seedlings of strawberries at a distance of about 15-20 cm.

In addition, you need to cut openings in the bottom of the bag to escape excess moisture. Further all this design is put in the big pot and is filled up for stability by a soil-sandy mix. Such containers can be made quite high, resulting in their own garden with growing strawberries on the balcony.