Growing Strawberries in Containers 🍓

Juicy and sweet, hard to beat! Everybody loves strawberries, but not everyone has the space to grow them in raised beds. Not to worry! Strawberries can grow very well in containers, and there are many ingenious ways to do this to maximise space. Ben also explains the different types of strawberries and when they crop, so you can be picking yummy berries all summer long! Pass the Martini...! 🍓

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[tjones]

I heard of a grandma who painted some small stones bright red. She placed the stones among her berry plants well before they fruited. The birds learned that the bright red "fruits" were not worth the trouble and never bothered the real strawberries once they arrived. Maybe this idea will keep our birds at the feeders and off the berries!

[marisa]

I had birds eating every strawberry before they could even ripen but I didn't want to bother with the hassle of netting. So I tucked my strawberry container amongst my aromatic herb containers. (Dill, basil, oregano, cilantro, chives, and mint) Seems to have properly confused my feathered thieves because I haven't had a single strawberry nibbled on in a over a month.

[shannonhayes]

I bought a strawberry plant that was dying. Cost me 50p I planted it in a pot to see what would happen. Iv had the plant about 5 years now and each year it has given me lots of yummy strawberries

[melissapollard]

Pine needles also make a great mulch for strawberries. They seem to really like it.

[sandraleatongray]

Great feature on strawberries! We inherited a lot of old plants, which weren’t very productive, and we only got a solitary bowl out of them last year. I got some tiny plant pots, put in some compost, and just tucked in a runner into each one. Once the runners had rooted in the pots I cut off the plant umbilical cord and replanted the baby plants into the original bed, now cleared of the old plants. I then spread Strulch over the bed. We ended up with 50 new plants for free this way. We have had a very productive season this time with something like 10kg of strawberries resulting in 14 jars of jam and a lot of desserts. I’m planning to repeat this propagation process every three years so my plants are always quite young. Top tip: If you have a bread machine, see if it has a jam setting as it can save a lot of burnt pans. You might need to run the setting 2 or even 3 times to get the perfect consistency, maybe adding a little pectin, but if you’re busy, this is a real boon.

[shirleyholsinger]

I put a coffee filter over the drain hole to keep soil in the pot..works for me...I can't wait for spring 🙂

[sherriianiro]

I had alpine strawberries growing in deep shade under trees and what a treat! They came back every year and not only did they attract the birds but the birds took care of any insects in the garden too!

[sandraleatongray]

Also I may have mentioned this before, but one of the perks of working in a university for me is that I get access to all the plant science research papers I have time to read, even though I am not a plant scientist! There was a very good study into how to increase strawberry yield and it found planting borage near the strawberries helped pollination a lot, leading to better cropping. What the plant scientists neglected to add is that this is also handy for making the subsequent Pimms ;.)

[toniedalton]

Oh my memories. The alpine strawberries used to be grow all over these Mtns when I was a child. We called them wild berries. Daddy would find us a big patch, and we all went, 5 of us, to pick for the winter’s jam. 1 gallon containers. As the youngest I remember having a measuring cup having to pick it full. We all had to fill our containers to Mother’s satisfaction. Being reminded that the jam will taste better on our biscuits (scones to you )than a snowball, lol. These days you hardly ever see them, and if you do they are very tiny. But I grow my own “tame” ones.
Thanks for the advice

[dafyddrhobert]

I have wild strawberries growing on mountain scree in Mid Wales. They have spread into the cracks of my terrace providing more fruit for free. This year I'm harvesting 600g of fruit every two days.

[hanzketchup]

Yes Ben, you’re right, “the best things in life aren’t complicated” Cheers !

[cuznclive]

In an attempt to prioritize time, as well as letting nature do it's thing, I mow my yard less often. Doing so presented a large area of ground cover berries, which kept my two-year-old granddaughter very busy. By the end of her daily interest in harvesting and eating ripened berries, her hands, arms, hair, and smiling face were strawberry red. Who would imagine doing less work would produce such joy.
Good stuff, and thank you!

[loisjohnson]

This is absolutely the best video for growing strawberries, I have found, much good information here. ❤ Thank you for posting it. I just started planting strawberries a few weeks ago in containers and really enjoying it so far. North Carolina girl..

[violentcat]

If you're in Australia or a hotter, drier climate remember to keep up the watering! Also if you're considering using netting on any fruit trees or vertical growing areas, make sure to use small aperture netting, small enough that you can't stick a finger through it as the larger stuff is deadly to fruit bats.

[bronwynnewnham]

Hello All, We are in Australia where the summers are very hot, even in Melbourne, for a long time I have been lining my terracotta pots with bark from a paper bark tree, but I think you could use a thin flexible bark from any tree. The bark slowly breaks down over years, but in the meantime insulates the roots and slows water evaporation and stops the root ball in the pot from drying out. When you want to re-pot, removing the roots from the pot is easier as the bark helps the root mass and soil just slide out. It is organic and cheap, I just pull some of the excess bark off the tree, and the paper bark tree is generous and gives me plenty without being harmed in any way. Cheers, Bron

[lunarbloom]

Such a helpful video, thank you! I always appreciate that you use seasons for reference rather than specific months for those of us in a different hemisphere. 🙂🇦🇺

[trueroyalty]

I'm starting my first garden this year. I'm trying to learn so much, thank you.

[wowsupereva]

Just planted some this weekend using a felt strawberry bag! Can't wait for the fruits! Also keen to learn how to preserve the plant for next year. Looking forward to the next video :)

[f_youtubecensorshipf_nazis]

Gift that keeps on giving as long as you figure out how to manage baby plants and are willing to pull out older ones when they stop producing.

[mikaelakayl]

Thank you for the tip about the homemade strawberry tower. I will do it this summer. I have strawberries called corona😄they fruit once during the summer and are super sweet. I also have wild strawberries. I have planted strawberries around bushes and trees in large potting.