Taking advantage of the weekend and holiday time off, I decided to finally increase my strawberry plant count by adding some space-saving railing planters. These will serve as my "strawberry patch" until we move to a house with a yard and more room. They were a simple and fast project to complete and can easily be taken down if needed. I just picked up some 33" cedar wood planter boxes at Home Depot, drilled some holes just under the lip of the boxes, and used black plastic zip ties to attach the boxes to the railing on the porch. If you want to save money or want a custom size you could always build the boxes yourself, but these were pre-assembled and about the right size and I opted for the easier route. I went to Orange County Farm Supply to get some high quality organic soil to use (I like their selection better than what I've found at other stores) as well as some soil amendments I have been wanting to try (seaweed fertilizer, granulated rock dust, and earth worm castings). Remember the health of your plants depends on the health of your soil, and from the research I've done it is best to avoid chemical fertilizers not only for your own health and because they are made from fossil fuels and are polluting to the environment, but they also kill the healthy organisms living in the soil that benefit your plants. Yet another reason to do things the organic way. Also plants resist pests and produce better if they are getting the nutrients they need. I picked up a variety of strawberry plants at Armstrong Nursery which carries a great selection of plant starts including organic, heirloom varieties, and locally grown. I opted for getting a few of each type since different varieties produce fruit at different times, and I also just love variety - I ended up with Sequoia, Mignonette, Tristan, Berri Basket White, and Loran. I also salvaged and transplanted the couple plants I already had which had survived from the previous season. I'm Interested to see which varieties do best and the difference in flavor. Here are some pics:
left planter
right planter
I think they look pretty nice!
here you can see how they are held on to the railing
The Tristan strawberries have cute little red flowers
the Sequoia have classic white and are also quite tall
fruits developing
and of course William had to help supervise!
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