This morning Lucy and I headed out early and did a little work in the garden.
I transplanted some tulip bulbs I had planted in containers last fall, while she went exploring in the greenhouse.
After getting the bulbs in the ground, we planted a few gutters with strawberry plants. If you are looking for a fun or alternative way to grow berries this year, growing your strawberries in gutters might be what you are looking for.
I’m sure you all know by now my favorite potting soil is made by Miracle Gro. I have no idea why I’m addicted to the stuff. There are a million different brands out there, but this is the kind I like.
Basically if you are going to try and grow berries {or anything else for that matter} in gutters, you’ll need to line the bottom of the gutters with about 1/2 an inch of pea gravel before adding dirt. This will help to aerate the soil.
Then, all you do is plant your strawberry crowns and wait for them to grow. With any luck, you should be swimming in berries by late June or early July.
Here is a picture of what my strawberry gutters looked like last summer. Pretty niffty huh?
What’s happening at YOUR place? Have you planted anything yet? Indoors, outdoors, in your greenhouse, in your mama’s basement?
Mavis wants to know.
Knitting with Olof says
Thought about growing my strawberries this way this year but I’m afraid that they would die of drought since it has been getting so stupid hot around here the last few years and little to no rain. I think I will need something that can hold more dirt to hold more moisture. But GREAT idea.
Dale Ann says
Popped into the heated greenhouse this morning to plant broccoli and cherry tomato seeds…
I am SO desperate for spring to arrive…with the 7 inches of snow we got last weekend and more forecast to arrive this coming weekend! Snowbanks are waist high and not a blade of grass or patch of dirt in sight…
Spring…where are you!!!
Jennifer says
I am doing strawberries for the first time this year, any advice? Especially advice about keeping the bugs away so I don’t lose them all. I had bad bug problems last year with my tomatoes and cucumbers so I am nervous to try growing fruit. Thanks for any advice! You are awesome and I love your blog!
cellar door says
It’s still snowing here, unfortunately! Haven’t planted anything yet. Love your blog here, though. I just discovered it a few days ago. I have a sick rooster at the moment. I relate very much to your post about your sick chicken. The rooster has frost bite.
This strawberry idea is lovely. I just transplanted all of my strawberries to a garden right outside my dining room window, last year. I figure I’ll be able to see right away if they need weeding- or eating!
darlene says
That little Lucy is growing like a weed! Fun to watch her antics!
Diana Smith says
Your pictures inspired me to plant 25 Tristar strawberry plants in gutter attached to my greenhouse. Last year I planted 100 berries outdoors and my” dear” Pyrenees Maybelle thought that would be a grand place for a nap. Arrgh. She is now fenced out of the garden. 120 acres but she has to sleep in the berries.
Mavis says
Ha!
Brandie says
I might have to try this next year… We live in Arizona so we have almost everything planted. Still waiting on the watermelon and hot pepper plants. I’m excited! Thanks for all the inspiration!
Sydelle says
I started some seeds under grow lights. This is my first attempt to use lights. I am hoping to keep costs down, save on groceries, and really plan out the growing season to get the most out of what weather we have in Western Washington. Love your blog. Thanks for the inspiration.
Nikki says
Mavis- I’m curious what you have your gutters attached to? are they old rot iron fence posts…?
Mavis says
L brackets attached to the greenhouse.
Charla Echlin says
I did strawberries in window boxes last year and they were the biggest strawberries I have ever seen!! I go through so much soil each year that this spring I decided that in addition to getting a huge bale of professional soil from Charley’s greenhouse (lucky me to have them so close!)- I also got the ingredients to make potting soil- so I didn’t feel so guilty using up all of my “good soil”! (I’m so cheap) I got the recipe from one of the *free* Amazon books you had on our blog! compost, peat, sand and perlite. Perfect- mixed up a huge batch in my wheel barrel and filled up all of my containers in my garden to get ready to plant potatoes in them.
Lucy is so cute! My pup was all over the place- I was so worried of losing him in my yard that I ended up keeping him tethered to me as I worked in the yard! BTW make sure Lucy stays away from any bags of fertilizer you may have around, I heard of an awful tale of a puppy that got into a bag…
happy gardening!
Cindi Myers says
Mavis,
My heart stopped when I saw Lucy pawing at that bag of potting soil. I had a dog who decided to eat some potting soil (I think it was Miracle Grow, too). He ended up one very sick puppy — in the hospital with impacted intestines. Fortuntely, he didn’t have to have surgery, but I learned an expensive lesson about keeping that stuff away from dogs!
Mavis says
Yikes! Luckily Miss Lucy did not get into the potting soil. Thanks for letting me know though, she is a lot like a toddler, putting everything in her mouth all the time.
Mr Yan says
How does the gutter planting effect hardiness of the crowns for over wintering? I like this idea but am sitting at the edge of zones 4 and 5.
Mavis says
In the fall I planted the strawberry crowns in the ground. Then, just a few days ago pulled them up and planted them in the gutters.
Christine says
Your website inspired this Virginia chic to bribe her husband into attaching two gutters to the ugly chain link fence between my house and the neighbor’s (with permission of course since it is the neighbor’s fence). I punched tons of holes in the bottom of the gutters, but forgot the pea gravel. I hope the holes for drainage are enough for the 50 strawberry starts I planted in the gutters this weekend. Fingers crossed!!!
Mavis says
Fingers crossed! 🙂
bonnie max fuentevilla says
Just gonna mention what someone else already did. Making your own seed starting soil. Those little bags add up. I buy ( I work at Home Depot so I know they have them ) a huge bag of vermiculite, spagnum peat moss and perlite and mix my own. I use alot to start seeds. I wanted to know if you use drip irrigation or a hose ? You have an awful large area to cover. Hoping I get smart an eventual switch to drip irrigation. It gets so freaking hot in So. California that sometimes the morning water isn’t enough. Should I try straw mulch ? I know you didn’t like it because of your OCD, but, I have a HH that is a Virgo. Hahaha ! He has learned to live with my messes and 5 different projects in different stages of completion. Straw everywhere ? Might be the straw that breaks the camels back……..um.
Cassie says
What do you have those gutters attached to? How did you attach them? How far apart did you space the plants?
Mavis says
There are grooves in the greenhouse walls and so I used L brackets and some nuts and bolts to attach them. The gutters slide off, I did not secure them into place because I want to be able to remove them in the fall.
Barkbeagle says
Are you planting more strawberry plants each year or demoing your plantings from last year?
Mavis says
Just using the new runners. 🙂
deana says
I looked up in my Rodale’s Organic Gardening Book and under strawberries it says to remove all the flowers that bloom the first 3-4 months after planting to give the plants a good start. Do you do this?
here is a tip-
If you buy plants or recieve them in the mail and you cannot plant them immediately, you can put them in the refrigerator for a few days. Just make sure the packing material is moist not soggy.
When planting , place the plants in a bucket of water and carry it to the garden with you. This will let the plants rehydrate and keep them from drying out while you are planting. And to dig your hole big enough so the roots will not be bent.
and to law down thick mulch of straw around the plants to keep the weeds at bay. Have to keep up with the weeds sense they can take over your plants and guessing can choke them out as well.
1 inch of water per week throughout the growing season.
types of Berries—- Harvesting
Juneberries- planted in spring won’t provide a harvest till the year after it was planted.
Everberries- produce a sizeable late summer crop
Day-Neutrals- will produce from midsummer through fall the year they’re planted.
Fall planted berries will bear a full harvest the next growing season.
These are just a few tips I read in my book that I thought you all might want to know as well.
for irrigation you can always use a soda bottle. Take a very thick needles or thin nail and heat it up over a flame and poke a hole in the lid. Fill the bottle with water and when you put the cap back on and turn upside down the water should barely bead up and then, after a few minutes or two it will begin to drip.
then just insert the cap part of the bottle into the top inch or so of the soil and then you can nestle the bottle against your gutter if that is what you are using or find something to keep it propped up with. You will put the bottle next to the plant. So this can work in single planters as well.
Depending on the size of the bottle but a single serve or 2 liter I am guessing will water the plant(s) for days or even a couple of weeks.
I am going to do a few for my gutter system so this way I can put one by every other plants. I am sure doing it that way all the plants will get water.
I have seen them use PVC pip with holes drilled all over up and down where the pipe will be below the soil. And when its time you just water your plants and it supposedly helps water all of them at the same time. I have not used either method but have seen a lot of gardeners do it this way.
Jennifer says
Thanks for the tips! 🙂
Lauren says
LOVE the idea of hanging strawberry gutters in your greenhouse! Brilliant! I may have to try it — I’m planning a big strawberry patch this year, but not sure how many of the berries will make it to our table, between my hens and the wild bunnies around here. I am definitely going to grow a spare “wall o’berries”. thanks for the idea!
Cherri says
I am so inspired by your gardening and have started planning my first garden. Last fall I planted 20+ garlic for the first time and low and behold I now have 2 of them peeking thru the ground. I am so excited. I know this is only the beginning of a great garden experience for me thanks to you Mavis! I look forward to reading your bog every day.
Mary S. says
Just wondering if your strawberries need bees or other pollinating insects? Or does that happen with the vent open?
Great idea, now I’ll be on the scrounge for guttering!
Mavis Butterfield says
The bees always seem to make their way into the greenhouse. 🙂