[Newlygreenfingered]

Hi every one,

I am going to attempt to get my creative juices flowing.
And use any good ideas off everyone here as well 

I want to create a child safe/friendly strawberry wall (it's got to be vertical due to space)
And want to get away from lots of wood and hanging brackets.

Any advice and help would be greatly received.

Pictures welcome and generally needed due to my lack of imagination 

[BabbyAnn]

not sure if it is child friendly but what about tyres?  The communal garden behind my plot lean the tyres against a banking (actually part of a big pond wall) with a row along the bottom, then the next row on top is about half way back and the tyres placed on top of 2 bottom tyres (imagine scalloped / fish scale effect)  Then each tyre is filled with soil where plants are grown.

PS sorry no photos

[Growster...]

Interesting concept, NGF!

We grow only alpines, among all our other soft fruit, and while they are fantastic for flavour, they really are tiresome to pick, as well as very fiddly, and I often wonder if I should just roll up some fairly rigid plastic netting - not bird netting, the square stuff - to about the diameter of a baked bean tin, and just fill it with old compost. Then I'd plant the alpines in the holes, stand it up somewhere and let them get on with it!

I reckon you might get away with two or three of these, or perhaps a panel - say four ft square, with a double layer of netting, tied front to back at intervals (to stop it bulging), and fill it with a fibrous compost, which will probably slump a bit, but the straws would just move around inside - they're pretty resilient!

Let us know how you're getting on!

[sunshineband]

Those strawberry pouches (or flower pouches) would only require a sturdy hook to hang each on, and would be able to be hung at whatever height would suit your children NGF .

You can buy them in garden centres these days as well as fairly economically on line. 

[surbie100]

You could rig up a vertical planting system recycling milk cartons to hold a strawberry plant each. The main issue will be watering. The cartons degrade after a year or so, so would need to be replaced regularly.

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/243124079855376286/

[Goosegirl]

not sure if it is child friendly but what about tyres?  The communal garden behind my plot lean the tyres against a banking (actually part of a big pond wall) with a row along the bottom, then the next row on top is about half way back and the tyres placed on top of 2 bottom tyres (imagine scalloped / fish scale effect)  Then each tyre is filled with soil where plants are grown. PS sorry no photos

I like the idea of using tyres. Apart from the fact that you should be able to get them for free, it's also a good way to re-cycle something, they will last for ages, hold quite a bit of compost and also be child-friendly. If you have no banking and has to be vertical against a wall, could you cut them in half so as to make like a half-round wall basket though it will need to be fixed against the wall somehow - you could have a wooden support fixed on the wall under it as a support. The only other thing I can think of for using tyres is to first get a large round post and fix it into the ground. Put the tyres down over it (as many as you want) and find a way to separate them so you can plant and later get at your strawbs.

[Dave NE]

How about a vertical pallet wall, Dave

[Newlygreenfingered]

Thanks for the ideas so far.

Some great ones.

I am hoping to make said verticle growing area as pretty as possible,
Aesthetics are going to play a role in this too.

Safety, productivity/growing and aesthetics in that order I think 

I do like the pallet idea.......a bit of paint could be good

Thanks again, keep them coming.

[Yorkie]

You may not find it that easy to get hold of tyres.

They are controlled waste and it is illegal to dispose of them otherwise than through a registered disposal centre - i.e. it would be illegal for someone else to give you them, and it would be illegal for you to try to dispose of them except through such a centre.

[Annen]

Something I thought of a while ago but never did was old handbags on hooks on an old door propped against the wall.  You could visit a charity shop and buy up a few handbags of different sizes, shapes and colours, fill them with soil and plant them up with whatever. Would need watering of course, but then so would any vertical gardening.

[Yana]

Thanks for the ideas so far.

Some great ones.

I am hoping to make said verticle growing area as pretty as possible,
Aesthetics are going to play a role in this too.

Safety, productivity/growing and aesthetics in that order I think 

I do like the pallet idea.......a bit of paint could be good

Thanks again, keep them coming.

I bought a textile shoe holder from ikea and it works a treat. Just filled shoe pouches with compost and planted up.

[Goosegirl]

You may not find it that easy to get hold of tyres.

They are controlled waste and it is illegal to dispose of them otherwise than through a registered disposal centre - i.e. it would be illegal for someone else to give you them, and it would be illegal for you to try to dispose of them except through such a centre.

Sorry about that - didn't know. Ok - pallets then, but I would check the wall first to ensure it is sturdy enough to take the weight.

[Dave NE]

Hi GG, if you are going with pallets I would think a quick rub down with coarse sandpaper and you might be able to get some tester pots for free or ask at the school gates for unwanted part tins of paint, Dave

[Ivor Backache]

Nobody has mentioned the weight of this project. A strawberry plant would need a 6"pot, and that full of soil weighs 5lbs. You would probably need a minimum of 6 for a decent crop, so you are looking at 30 lbs. plus. You have excluded timber and brackets but it has to be child safe & friendly. You will probably need semi circular metal wall baskets fixed to the wall. I have 3 for bush tomatoes and they need sturdy wall fixing bolts. They have a diameter of 18" and would take two strawberry plants.  Every year I empty them out to replenish the soil and they are very heavy. The 3 of them fill a wheelbarrow. This is not a project for shortcuts.

[pigguns]

It can be heavy= Strawbs like clay    I used one of those Ikea plastic bag reuse holders and planted toms through the holes last year, it weighed a ton with gel crystals added into the soil.
I lined it first- it worked fine.