Wintering Gutter Strawberries

I ve been feeling an urgency to get this blog post update out because i have been seeing ridiculous growing traffic on our strawberry planting in rain gutters post and i think we should let you all know that growing strawberry plants in rain gutters hasn t turned out so well for us.

Wintering gutter strawberries.

Overwintering strawberry towers or winterizing strawberry plants planted in gutters or pipe systems is more difficult. Gutter planted strawberries have no such natural insulation. One of the best ways is to place the container in a bigger container and then insulate the space between with leaves or straw. Make two more marks 9 inches from each end of the gutter to mark the appropriate spacing for planting three strawberry.

Consequently the soil can get too hot in the summer in many places and too cold in the winter. Michael drilled holes in the gutter towards the bottom every 1 1 2 or so for proper drainage. And by that i mean well they are all dead big gardening fail. Day neutral varieties like albion jewel fort laramie ozark beauty and tristar may yield strawberries for months on end but they only get weaker if you try to keep them through the winter for production next year.

These rain gutters not only keep pests away but they make for much easier gardening. Strawberries require winter protection especially in areas where temperatures dip below 15 to 20 degrees fahrenheit. Move strawberry jars into an unheated garage for winter. Measure and mark 27 inches from either end of the gutter to find the center.

In time we decided we just preferred the june bearing so we ripped out all of the ever bearing. Wrap large strawberry pots or barrels with burlap and or bubble wrap and stuff the top opening with straw 6 to 8 inches deep. Rain gutters can be mounted to the side of decks or vertically to the side of your house or shed to create a strawberry wall a rain gutter about 4 and a half feet long is enough to grow 3 4 strawberry plants depending on plant size. To winterize strawberry plants in a pyramid apply mulch 6 to 8 inches deep.

If the strawberry towers or gutters pipes can be moved into the garage or other similar shelter they will often do better than if left suspended above the ground and exposed to all the harshest weather winter can throw at them. In the past in our strawberry bed we grew berries of the june bearing and ever bearing variety. Remove winterizing mulch in spring as growth resumes. Thinning runners and older plants follow these essential tasks to give your strawberry plants the best chance of overwintering unscathed.