[Zippy]

What about if we made holes with a skewer in the sides where we want the water level to be.  Any more water than what was wanted would drain out through the holes.  Would that work

Good thinking!

[missycat]

I love the idea of vertical gardening but my only concern is hard frosts...I mulch my strawberry crowns over the winter to protect them from frost and am not sure how practical it would be to insulate each of the pots on the frame or indeed what I would use...bubble wrap or straw and sacking for each pot...fleece over the whole frame...?

[Livinhope]

That had occured to me because there is virtually no protection for the roots against hard frosts.  I shall be interested in the answer.

[Zippy]

I aim to bring them into the garage by the (double glazed) window over winter. I have a couple of runners pegged down into these bottles and hope to fruit them next year.

[sally10]

Fantastic can't wait to try them might plant some herbs for now think I have missed the strawberry planting ??

What a great idea for schools / nursery s etc, I've got lots of fencing posts on my allotment so I think they would be great on them leaving more floor space for other things ?

hope I can make them, might be back asking for making strawberry planters for dummies instructions !!!!

[aelf]

That had occured to me because there is virtually no protection for the roots against hard frosts.  I shall be interested in the answer.

Yes, I did consider frost (especially after last winter!) You will see from my original pics that the pots are mounted on boards. I intend to bring these into the greenhouse and store them there over the winter. I line my greenhouse with bubblewrap for the winter as I keep many of my half-hardy plants in there over the winter.

[Livinhope]

I had intended to take my strawbs up to the allotment butin view of the weather we had last winter I think they had better stay at home.  If you think about it, outside, when it freezes the ground gets frozen to several inches at times and the roots survive that so even in the pots, providing they are not sitting in water, but also not bone dry, they should be okay. 

One day in the pots (bottles) and my rather poor looking (when they arrived) little Irresistables have perked up.

I can't thank you enough for this idea Aelf, it saves my allotment ground for other crops, and saves work.

[mjpalin]

Aelf, have just started to plant my strawbs in the milk cartons (and can't thank you enough for the idea), however, I have about 100 that will be planted in this way by the end of august, and idea was to attach them to the internal supports of the fruit cage on the lotty.. which means they will be outside all winter.

Not had much luck in the past over wintering strawberries ... have one of these:
http://www.garden4less.co.uk/strawberry-planter-tub.asp?partner=hw

Can anyone suggest ways to ensure my strawbs in milk containers (and the tub in the link) make it through winter?

Thx
m

[aelf]

The problem is that the ground rarely freezes more than an inch deep because there is always heat radiating up from the crust to the surface. So roots survive when the plant dies back. When strwbs are in these containers, the whole plant (including the rootball) will be exposed to the cold and will freeze solid.

Could you attach them to the supports using hooks so that they can be lifted off in the autumn? They could then go in a greenhouse or, if no room, could be stored outside all huddled together on the ground with a pile of (for example) straw over the top to keep them frost free?

[evie2]

Great idea aelf, thank you

[rogers1914]

I know I am very late in the day with this as I have been trying to find the whole strawberry thing on the internet for a few weeks. I had seen the Idea on BBC gardeners world so take it that someone from here had seen the idea. Anyway I have been trying to save the milk cartons for months as I have over 100 plants. However not knowing exactly how to do it properly I put the cartons the other way around as I thought this meant the strawberries had more soil and I could water from the front into the handle. Also I didn't cut the top as I felt enough water would be absorbed.
So the questions are
am I using to much compost, or at least more than is necessary??
do I have to space them out as I have sat them on a shelf and if I put them to close will it cause any bugs to multiply?? (d0 seem to have a lot of whitefly - but so does everyone from what I have read)
was thinking that as they had their own container distance may not matter
should I reverse the handles??

Just a note I have put all the runners into these and boy do they romp away developing roots. They seem to love the cosiness of it.

Anyone made note of how much they have produced compared with other methods and what was the result of the over wintering. Last I read seems there was a debate about putting them inside or covering with bubble wrap.

Thankyou hope someone still wants to talk about this. Would love to hear about some results.


Cheryl 

[kosh42|EFG]

I like these... Any feedback from people who did this last year? How did they over-winter? How did they perform this year, etc?

Cheers,

Kosh

[aelf]

Hi Guys
Some feedback on this experiment...

I started with around 50 planted milk containers which were overwintered in my greenhouse. This proved to be no better than outside as the temps got so low that the strawberries were frozen solid in the containers for more than 2 weeks. Despite this, they (well, about 90%) survived and went on to produce the best harvest of strawbs I have ever had.

The results may be a little skewed as it seems that last year was a very good year for strawbs anyway so I don't really know if this method is better than any other. One problem I have had is the containers become brittle after a year or so and need to be replaced but as I am potting on and growing runners, and there is no shortage of milk containers, it's not such a problem.

I'm setting things up for next season now and currently have over a 100 baby strawb plants (from runners) in my cold frame.

I would also be interested to know how have others faired this year 

[angelavdavis]

I think this idea is great. 

My thought was to cut a couple of teardrop shaped slots into the back of the bottle to hang the pots with. 

I will hang them on the side of my compost bin which is made of pallets - it should help to disguise the compost bin.  I am actually going to start these off now and overwinter in the greenhouse, positioning them come spring time.  Thanks Aelf.

[mashbintater]

Just to re-cap, as strawbs are so hardy, is it necessary to overwinter them in the containers in the greenhouse?
Thanks Mash