To increase strawberry productivity, people have come up with a lot of ways to grow it. Using only skillful hands and improvised materials, you can get not only a big harvest, but also an aesthetic appearance of your summer cottage. Do-it-yourself beds for strawberries always look very original.
Material Content:
How to make strawberry beds with your own hands
There are many options for the manufacture of such structures.
But the most popular beds are:
- pyramids;
- outboard;
- vertical.
Each of these types will not only make your site really beautiful, but also save space, which means you can plant a large number of seedlings in a small area.
In the form of pyramids
Beds of this type look very neat and can have from 3 to 5 angles.
On a note! When designing a garden bed, it is better not to make it wide, so that later it is easier to care for strawberries.
The advantage of the beds in the form of a pyramid is to save space on the site. This type is perfect for those who want to treat themselves to a good harvest, but do not have enough area. Also, the shape of the pyramid allows you to plant strawberries so that the upper rows do not cover the lower ones, and the sun falls evenly on all its parts.
It is possible to construct a bed from any material, beginning from metal and finishing with wooden boards. There are craftsmen who fit plastic bottles and even old tires for this design.
But we will give preference to wood.It is easy to find, it looks neat in the garden and is not difficult to use. So, we will prepare the boards of the desired length, nails and paint, which they will then be coated to protect the material from decay, pests, while giving an aesthetic appearance to the structure.
Important! Before you begin, prepare a drawing with the dimensions you need.
The width of the board is needed 3-5 cm, and on the base walls from below it is better to purchase boards a little thicker. The recommended length of the baseboard will be about a meter. They can be fastened with nails, screws or metal plates. The more carefully you connect the boards, the stronger the overall design will be.
When the lower tier is ready, it can be covered with prepared soil, ramming it. Then proceed to the next one, which should be about 25 cm shorter than the previous one. It can be installed at an angle so that the bottom has enough light.
In the pyramid there can be from 3 to 7 tiers, which are made according to the same pattern, each time decreasing by a certain number of centimeters, depending on the size of the geometric structure.
The result is such a pyramid: each new bed will stand on the previous, covered with earth, but each time smaller in diameter by the same number of centimeters. You can make a slope by placing the board at an angle of 90 degrees.
Outboard
The hanging version of the beds is also designed to save space, but at the same time high yield. The easiest way to make such a bed from a PVC pipe, cut in half. This method will facilitate the care of plants.
When the pipe is prepared, plugs must be installed on each edge. The resulting design can be hung in rows on a fence, the edge of the house, a gazebo or in any place convenient for growth of crops. You can attach the bed using a rope or a solid wire.
Do not forget to make holes at the bottom through which excess moisture will escape. After this, you can begin to lay the drainage, and then backfill.
Vertical
Plastic pipes will be the basis of the design. They do not rot, always keep their shape and are inexpensive.
On a note! Strawberry is a sun-loving plant, so the shadow does not fit it. This should be considered when placing the structure.
The only negative of such a bed is that the soil will need to be watered often. So, we will prepare a pipe of large diameter (for example, sewer), as well as a thin pipe 10 cm longer than the main one. A stub is also required.
We drill holes in the main pipe, not arranged one above the other, but in the form of a spiral, with a diameter convenient for planting strawberries - usually 20 cm. All holes are located at least 10 cm from each other. We close the bottom of the large pipe with a plug.
When everything is ready, find the place where the bed will be placed, and install it, fixing it as best as possible. Because when the pipe is filled with earth, it can collapse in two counts.
Next, we place a smaller one in a large pipe that was prepared in advance (a lot of small holes were made with a drill, and covering material was wrapped around the product), we put 10 cm thick gravel on the bottom, and the rest of the space is filled with soil. Done! You can plant seedlings in the ground.
Hanging beds and their advantages
What are hanging beds, we figured out earlier. But what are the advantages of this method of growing berries?
For starters, it is as follows:
- space saving;
- convenience of location of the beds;
- aesthetic appearance;
- comfortable strawberry care;
- minimum investment and a large crop.
Any gardener dreams of a beautiful and fertile summer cottage. Usually this is not hectares of land, but only a few hundred, on which stands a country house, and the rest is occupied by fruit stands.On the beds, as a rule, there is not much space left, and every owner dreams of treating himself to the goodies grown by his own hands.
Thanks to the hanging beds, you can significantly save space and at the same time get a high yield. It would seem that an ordinary bed from a pipe, but it can turn a garden plot into a really beautiful, well-groomed place.
Creative options for multi-tiered beds
Classic beds on earth no longer surprise anyone. And if you want something unusual, we are ready to talk about such options for planting seedlings.
The least expensive, but at the same time very vertical are considered beds from two-liter plastic bottles. Cut off the neck of them, then remove the lids and lay the narrow side on the bottom, after wrapping the burlap. At 5 cm from the bottom we make a five-centimeter hole to drain excess water.
In order to have system watering in the design, we make a hole in each bottle at the bottom. We build a chain of bottles, placing them on top of each other. In each row it will be enough to place 5-6 bottles.
On the sides we make holes about 8 cm in diameter for seedlings. We fix the resulting structure with a wire in a convenient place. It turns out plastic, multi-tiered structures that look original on fences and arbors.
Another original way to decorate the garden is to use tires. In the upper part, 10x10 cm square holes need to be cut. Before installing the tire, from which the bottom is drilled in several places to drain water, dig a pit no deeper than 10 cm and fill it with drainage. Then you can begin to manufacture the design.
Note! You can use tires of different diameters and install them in the form of a pyramid.
The beds can be made from any improvised materials. For example, building blocks with an empty middle are great, especially if they remain as garbage after construction.
How to make from pipes
Pipe beds are a great option for saving space, as well as for good plant development. They are made easier than ever, so even an inexperienced summer resident will cope with such work. We considered the manufacture of vertical beds, but horizontal structures can also be made of PVC pipe.
Most often, a frame is prepared for them, preferably a metal one, on which beds will later be attached. You will need wide pipes, which are usually used for sewage, as well as thin ones. Do not forget to buy stubs for them. Such beds are made on the principle of vertical, with the only difference being that the caps are installed on both sides, and the bed itself is attached to the frame.
Soil requirement and preparation
How to make a bed for plants, we have already figured out, and now let's talk about the soil. In order to grow a really good strawberry crop, you need to choose soils that are similar in composition to loamy and loamy sand.
Loamy soil perfectly passes and retains moisture, breathes and easily warms up. Sandy loam has a lot of sand in its composition, due to which it also has excellent throughput. A dense crust does not form on its surface upon drying.
Strawberries do not like sandy and clay soils. Sand quickly heats up and cools, losing useful properties. Clay, on the other hand, slows down the growth of a plant, since it lacks oxygen and moisture.
An important characteristic is acidity. Acidic and alkaline soils are unsuitable for strawberries. Neutral soil formulations are best suited either with a normal / slightly acidic reaction when the pH level is not higher than 5.5.
In order to increase soil fertility, it is required to regularly feed plantings with organic matter. Such fertilizer is being prepared mainly from bird droppings in a ratio of 1:10. It is infused for several weeks. Mullein can also be used.
Compost is harvested in late spring. We take garbage bags with a volume of about 120 liters and prepare chamomile, nettle, weed grass and clover. We grind everything thoroughly, and then lay it in bags in layers, shifting each layer with wood ash. Next, put the bags in the sun. By the end of summer, compost will be ready. It is perfect for autumn digging of the earth or as a mulching around the bush.
In the autumn, while preparing the soil, mineral fertilizers can also be added to it:
- phosphorus;
- potassium;
- nitrogen.
But using this type of fertilizer, it is necessary to comply with the dosage regimen. They can be used both in dry and in dissolved form.
Also, before digging the earth in the fall, ammonium sulfate is used. It looks like small white crystals. On 1 sq.m. it will need no more than 40 g.
Important! Ammonium sulfate will allow strawberries to grow green mass.
Cleaning the soil from weeds and insects
Before planting, the ground must be carefully prepared. It is recommended to dig it up, then check for the roots of perennial weed vegetation, as well as a wintering pest stock. It is best after steaming the earth to steaming it well with boiling water. But this method is suitable for a small amount.
On a large plot, we do this:
- in the spring we remove a layer of earth 10 cm thick;
- we dig a hole 1x1 m and add the removed layers there;
- put the last layer with the roots up;
- spill everything with warm water, and cover with a film;
- leave air gaps at ground level.
For several months, the earth will be steamed under the film. After the earth you need to sift. Done, you can use.
In addition, garden soil can be full of larvae of harmful insects and spores of various fungal diseases. You can eliminate them using special preparations for tillage. Among them are Fitosporin, Intavir, Aktara and Quadris.
As you can see, preparatory and landing work can be time-consuming. But a correctly selected place, well-formed beds, ideal soil and timely top dressing can become the key to an excellent harvest in the future. And already in the next season you can treat yourself to delicious berries grown in your own, equipped with your own hands site.
