A big THANK YOU to everyone who has sent in their photographs and stories. I hope by sharing other peoples pictures and stories here on One Hundred Dollars a Month we can all have an awesome garden this summer. Keep them coming!
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Check out this email I received from April:
I saw your pictures and post about creating a pallet garden, eventually turning them on their sides to create a vertical garden and I thought you might be interested in something I invented that I call a Strawberry Tower.
You could probably use the same principal to grow other shallow rooted fruits and veggies. I built it by taking four simple fence boards and drilling 2 to 3 inch holes up and down using a forstner bit.
Once the holes were drilled, I screwed the boards together, attached some two by fours to the bottom for support, ran a drip line up the middle, filled it with dirt and placed the strawberry plants into the holes. My husband helped me attach some plastic PVC pipe to the drip line sticking out the top and to that we attached a quick release to attach the hose to for watering.
You could also just attach that to your drip watering system. I managed to get over 90 plants on 3 sides and the top with the fourth side facing the wall.
It’s been prolific producer of strawberries and eliminates the problem of the strawberries getting wet!
Because we live in Santa Cruz California, we’re lucky enough to be able to grow most of what we need year round (we grow strawberries year round!) and have taken advantage of that by using raised beds on our deck and in our backyard and converting our front yard from lawn to food.
We live in a neighborhood like you but have less land than you do, I think. We also have chickens we raise for eggs and meat and rabbits we raise for meat.
We’re not self-sufficient but we’re way better off than we were a few years ago and, as you know, nothing beats being able to walk into the backyard and pick dinner.
Holy Cow April, look at all those peppers and tomatoes! I am impressed! You grow girl, you are doing awesome. Thanks for sharing your pictures.
~Mavis
{Becky from New York and one of her many garden plots}
If you would like to have your garden, chicken coop or something you’ve made featured on One Hundred Dollars a Month, here’s what I’m looking for:
- Your Garden Pictures and Tips – I’d especially like to see your garden set ups, growing areas, and know if you are starting seeds indoors this year. If so, show me some picture of how you are going about it.
- Your Chicken and Chicken Related Stories – Coops, Chicks, Hen’s, Roosters, Eggs, you name it. If it clucks, send us some pictures to share with the world.
- Cool Arts & Craft made from your very own hands with detailed {and well photographed} pictures and instructions.
If I feature your pictures and the stories behind them on One Hundred Dollars a Month, I will send you a $20.00 gift card to the greatest store in the world: Amazon.com.
Go HERE for the official rules.
Looking for a great garden book to have on hand this summer? The New York Times 1000 Gardening Questions and Answers: Based on the New York Times Column Garden Q & A is awesome. I own it, and Amazon currently has it in stock. The book is filled with all sorts of greatness.
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Robin says
Oh April I am so all over that strawberry tower idea. Just so you know I think it is genius design. The rest of your garden looks amazing. The picture of your onions drying looks familiar. Thank you so much for sharing your garden!!!!!
Joan Blurton says
What a wonderful idea. I’m space limited, and this strawberry tower just went on my to-do list.
Gitte Kaan says
I am going to make a strawberry tower too, thanks for the idea from Denmark <3
krista says
I raise rabbits too! And just got my chickens a few days ago, It looks like your making great use of your space!
Margaret B. says
Wonderful idea but I have a question please. What is a, drip line? Thank you. I enjoy your blog very much.
Susie says
Margaret, I believe a drip line is a pipe or hose with small holes in it that you put in the soil (in this case, vertically) and then run water through it to water the plants. As April says, this keeps the strawberries from getting wet by spraying them with a hose. I’ve never grown strawberries (yet!!), but I suppose they don’t do well with water on the leaves or fruit?? Makes me wonder how they ever grew without humans to figure out how to water them… I’ll be making one of these towers too!
Des says
Well, water on the leaves can encourage fungus, but mostly a tower like this would need a drip line because you can’t really water into the tower holes. Basically you need the soil to be moist, and the only way to do that with a tower is through to top. You *could* stand there with a hose for an hour, but that would get old quickly. Also, with so many plants in so little soil, daily watering may be needed.
You Can Call Me Jane says
April, wow! Your lemon tree makes me swoon…and strawberries year round? You are one lucky girl:-).
Sakura says
Thanks for the tower idea. I was just trying to figure out where I could fit more strawberry plants.
Hege says
Thank you April! Love the strawberry tower design, might just have to create one or two of these for my own backyard! The drip line will be key here in Texas to make this design work.
Grandma PattyB says
What I miss about Cali: Growing stuff all year long.
What I don’t miss: that ivy growing on your fence! 😉
Cecily says
Love the stamped concrete patio!
Renee says
Love the Strawberry Tower. How do you overwintering the strawberries. I live in Zone 7b, (Alabama). Do you plant new crowns each year or do the plants come back in the Spring?
Carol says
I’m about to start my very first garden and absolutely love this strawberry tower design!!! Question though… when do you place the strawberry plants in? While they’re seeds, just sprouted, etc? (I suppose I really mean, at what stage of the plant life?) I’d like to have a successful garden and need all the help I can get! THANKS!!! =)
Mavis Butterfield says
Any stage but seed I would imagine. You local garden center should be seling strawberry runners about now.
Angelique Bruggeman says
I love the strawberry tower!!! Do you think it will do well in zone 4? How would you winter the plants? Thanks for the awesome ideas!!!
Erin Gaskell says
I Love this Tower idea!!! No one has yet to mention one other awesome advantage……picking berries without being on your hands and knees!!! I too am wondering about winterizing….I live in CT (not sure what zone….7 maybe?) And this tower will freeze solid in the winter. Strawberry runners depending on their size can be quite expensive, definitely would not want to spend that money each and every year. And what about spring freezes – I wonder if the seeds would even germinate outside in early March/April. Our strawberry season is June here and that’s it. Hoping Mavis and or April can shed light on these questions! Thank you!! 😉
HANK says
Rap with bubble rap secure with bung cord
Ronni says
Do you treat your wood pallets before using it in the garden? If not how long do heat treated pallets without any coating last?
Shelley says
How well did the strawberry tower hold up over the last almost 2 years? hoping for a little more info on directions too please! screw size….I was eyeing cedar fence boards at the big box store…. did you have to pretreat the boards at all?
Mary says
Hi, I absolutely love the vertical strawberry tower. All I have is a patio and this would be perfect for growing my favorite fruit.
Here’s the problem. I am totally without a doubt a beginner when it comes to this sort of thing. After drilling the wholes, screwing the boards together, and attaching some 2 by 4s, I’m lost. What is a drip line and exactly how would you run it up the middle? Also, how do you get the plants into holes? I know what pvc pipe is, but not what a quick release is.
Okay, I know you are all having a good laugh, but if I don’t ask, I can forget it. Is there possibly a simpler version or do you have pictures of the process?
Shirley Wickersham says
One question. ..how do you stop the dirt from washing out? I’ve built one of these in the past. But the dirt washed out during a rain storm.
Cynseryea says
Maybe your holes are too big… possibly try compacting the soil as you place it in the pot.
Betty says
Hi! Can you use bamboo stick instead of pvc pipe for irrigation ?
Colleen Robinson says
In regards to the strawberry tower, the holes appear to be quite close together given that the strawberry plant can and does grow quite big does that impact the strawberriy plant and strawberries in their full mature stage through their growing season
Cynseryea says
Thank you so much for the standing strawberry planter idea!! My husband is building it for me! Should be done tomorrow!