Strawberry Barrel Update: 2 years Later

(Picture:  one of our strawberry barrels today 10/10/20)

I've been asked to give an update on the strawberry barrels my husband made a couple of years ago.  You can read about how he made them starting with this post.

We are now the proud owners of 5 strawberry barrels and have all of them almost full of strawberry plants.

I decided to answer the reader's questions starting with the 'pros' and 'cons' ...

The Pros are ...

The plants have done well in the barrels and keep the berries up off the ground.

They're easy to care for and harvesting is really easy (My back likes that there is less bending over required.)

Weeding is almost non-existent ( I really like that part!)

Harvesting the runners is easy!

If birds or squirrels or rabbits become a problem you can just throw netting over the entire barrel ... problem taken care of!

Frees up in ground gardening space.

Cons ...

Some sort of watering system is essential or you're going to spend a lot of time watering.  The barrels dry out quickly, especially when the temperature rises.

Fertilizing is needed 

They can look really unkept it you leave the dried or dying plants too long in the barrels, regular maintenance is needed!

That's it!  

What about yield?  Of course, how many you're able to harvest depends on several factors, weather, care, animal/bird control, etc.  I've not been keeping up with actual harvest amounts but it's been enough for our family's needs ... eating and preserving.

Would I do it again if I could have a do-over!  Absolutely!

Do we plan to continue growing strawberries in our grow barrels ... yes!

I hope this information is helpful to the reader who asked for an update and to anyone else considering growing strawberries using this method.

patsi

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