Growing strawberries in containers is not difficult, in fact there are very few garden plants that can't be grown in containers, although soft fruit generally do not make successful subjects. This is because most types are fairly shallowly rooted and therefore prone to drying out. Any plant in a container will suffer more easily from water shortage than one in the open garden, and water shortage in a fruiting plant means poor quality fruit. All of these factors can lead to problems, but if you are prepared to devote more than the normal amount of attention to watering and plant initially with care, then it is possible to obtain modest crops of soft fruit, even on a paved area by someone with no real garden.
Because of their small size, strawberries are the most amenable of soft fruit to container cultivation. You can either use a strawberry tub, made of terracotta or plastic and with holes in the sides, or alternatively an open wooden half-barrel or similar sized vessel. They are a fairly attractive option for someone who otherwise has no room to grow strawberries, but they are far from ideal. A great deal of good soil based compost will be required and the crop will inevitably be fairly small because most of the runners must be removed and the plants placed close together, so restricting them in size. Watering will be a necessary and continuing chore and you may well have poor ripening. This is because half of the container will almost inevitably face away from the sun, unless it is small enough to be turned regularly. It will also be necessary to help the pollination process by dusting over the open flowers with a soft paint brush. With relatively few plants you must ensure that as many flowers as possible set fruit.
One of the most interesting developments in container raising of soft fruit in recent years has been to grow strawberries in long containers above head height in greenhouses, so that the fruit hangs down for ease of picking. Commercially, various systems have been adopted, including the use of growing bags of soilless compost and wide diameter sections of plastic gutter pipe into which drainage holes have been drilled. Any system of this type does depend on having strong shelves to support the containers and ideally, on installing some system of automated irrigation and provision of liquid feed. This is probable not a technique suitable for every garden, but a gardener with a large, more or less redundant greenhouse could make excellent use of the facility and could extend the strawberry cropping season considerably by using day-neutral varieties such as Selva, Fern, Tribute and Tristar. These will crop all year round if temperatures are adequate as they are not dependant, like the more familiar and older varieties, on the long days of summer for flowering to commence.
Visit the Strawberry Store for a great selection of Containers and Planters.
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