Jason

Much better IMO :) There is going to be lots of strawberries there! If I may be nosy: what are those white 'things' with holes on other side of railing? Looks like plant stands for pots ?

Looks good. For those long wood planters I would use at least couple of extra blockings equally spaced to stiffen up the planters. Also you only need a screen where the holes are. Looking pretty good and that is going to produce a ton of strawberries.

A piece of wood just like your end pieces to go between the two long sides. So it will end up having say three smaller compartments with two such "blockings". This will make your planter stronger and not bow out in the center with all the water and sun trying to distort the wood. Does it make sense?

The blocking would only have to be at the top. the bottom is already tied together by the bottom board and the wall height is small. So you wouldn't need to use a block as big as the endcaps.

Perfect. I am also planning to build something similar. Perhaps I should plant strawberries too.

I plan to sit them on top of a 12' retaining wall. I will have to put a few "footers" under the planters so that the water drains out better.

Jason

Did you make hydro walls too? Any reason that you are doing hydro and soil-planted?

That is gong to be lots of berries...

Btw, looks like spring arrived where yo are.

rina_Ontario,Canada(5a), Yes I did build those myself. I have been very busy on paternity leave ;) I have 4 walls that each hold 36 strawberries. Overall, I will have over 300 strawberries this year.

This is my second year gardening and I became interested in hydroponics. I am trying various growing methods to see what I like best. I also have a hydroponic bean tower and a hydroponic dutch bucket tomato system as well.

That is great, Jason. Best to compare different systems side-by-side. Hope you'll post growing/comparison results. Best of luck.

ps: do you have any pics of your bean tower?

rina_Ontario,Canada(5a), I am not quite done with the hydroponic bean tower yet. I will hopefully get it done this weekend. I will post pictures back here when done.

Jason

Just wondering what kind of beans you'll grow in the tower:)

I am jealous of you having temps high enough to plant outside...Planters are looking good! I see plants (strawberries?) peeking out from your hydro set-up on the other side of rail :)

The great part about all of this is (a) it looks freakin' awesome and is unique to you, (b) it wasn't that expensive and (c) you obviously love projects and troubleshooting, so if it doesn't work for strawberries, it will work for so many other things like herbs, flowers, etc. There are infinite ways to garden - it's so cool to see people come up with their own ways. It's very inspiring.

I can't wait to see how this evolves over the next few months - I hope it's super successful. Well done, sir.

Looking good so far. It will look really nice when it fills out. Please do post pictures later when it does.

@rina_Ontario,Canada(5a) It is warm enough, but man this has been one of the wettest and darkest winters on record here in Seattle. Its been terrible. Because you asked about it, here is the WIP bean tower setup. I hope to actually plant everything this weekend. I have the various beans grown from seed and ready to transplant.

@nbm1981(Erie, CO Zone 5b) thanks for the feedback! I do love projects and building. My hydroponic strawberry wall has been a lesson in thinking things out better and fixing on the fly :) My wife is getting a little tired of all my time outside with a toddler and a newborn in the house. Im trying to wrap up a lot of it this weekend.

@tropicofcancer(SW-PA 6b) Sure! I will post updates as they come :)

Jason

Thank you! Very interesting set-up. I agree with comments from nbm :)

I would also like to see progress. Looking forward to more pics as time goes on. I think you are going to have awesome harvest.

Your miles of strawberry planters are so slick and inspiring! You fixed the problem perfectly with those hanging brackets! Can't wait to see an update of that railing loaded with tasty fruit. :)

@Melochia Tomentosa Thanks!! Here are a few 1 month later pictures. The plants are doing really well! I trimmed off the first set of flowers to let them focus on growing. They look great!

Now the hydro strawberries on the other side of the deck are even bigger!

Great setup! May I ask what you are going to do with all those strawberries??

Glad you asked about those "white things", Rina! LOL

A suggestion for the deck railing planter: As strawberries are an early summer crop and pretty much just sit there the rest of the time, have you considered planting anything else in there with them? You could do something like sweet alyssummaking the planter both decorative as well as functional. Alyssum produces clouds of tiny flowers (white, or purple typically), is highly fragrant on sunny days (very honeylike fragrance), and is a bee magnet -- especially for our native mason bees (tiny metallic colored bees which are actually far more efficient pollinators than honeybees).

Paul

I like idea of growing alyssum - I like the smell (and look of it) a lot! Great for attracting pollinators.

Jason

Hope to see current photos of the strawberries growing in the 'white things', haha...

@mesembsThat is a great question :) Eat them and freeze them! My toddler basically goes through a pint of strawberries every day- or so it feels. Last yer we had 20 or so plants and they just couldn't keep up with my kiddo. Now shes a year old (2.5 years old) and eats even more!

@Paul MI That is a great idea! My concern is room in the planters. There is less than 12 inches between each strawberry already. I would be worried about root growth if there was something in between them. What do you think?

We do have mason bees here. I love them. They are pretty friendly. I am actually going to put up some mason bee boxes this year as well.

@rina_Ontario,Canada Ask and ye shall receive. They are a decent amount larger than the soil based. But in all fairness, they were planted a few weeks earlier.

Great growing! And I think it's a great idea to grow them differently too. Your daughter is receiving excellent education (besides getting yummy, juicy berries!)

I do not think you need to be concerned about Alyssum roots. Maybe plant only half of a plug in-between the strawberry plants. As the plant spreads, it is easy to pull out. At least that's what I would do :)

As Rina said, I don't think you would have anything to worry about. Alyssum, IME, is not a thug. Don't believe you would be able to divide a plug though. The alyssum I usually see are packs of 6-8 cells, each with one plant. I try one plant between each pair of strawberry plants.

Jason, I LUV your strawberry setup....wow. Im using large alum gutters now for various things. I had them made up cheaply year ago at local siding and gutter Kind of wholesale distributor

AND brought them with us when we moved

very nice company. They made them up while I watched in very short time. end caps and all....very reasonable price for quality job

Now how did you attach your boards? cedar boards? they look butted together. Hubby said the cedar we have will split if stapled....did you use screws and did you predrill ?

We bought quite a bit of it from a local guy who cut it down , milled it himself...they are all 1 bys....various width and lenght really pretty. red cedar..

So we ave used little of it.. Most still up in the attic of the big tall garage...

It looks likeyour white part are pvc fence post???

If Jason is not answering and is busy can some chime in and answer...

I wanna do simlar since I wanna move from this place. so want my gardening this year to be somewhat portable with dolly etc

sorry so full of question but IM so impreessed...

Thanks PS Just $10 for each cedar box?? thats a lot of lineal feet>>.that 18 bd feet ?

@jeanwedding(6 ky) These are indeed cedar fence boards. The cheap flat top pickets you can buy at any hardware store. I pre-drilled holes and used deck screws to connect them together. Didn't have a single split board :) I used something like this http://www.homedepot.com/p/Alta-Forest-Products-5-8-in-x-5-1-2-in-x-6-ft-Western-Red-Cedar-Flat-Top-Fence-Picket-63024/205757689 and used just three. Those cost just 2.66 a piece. Then I used a little 1x2 for the middle blockings. Maybe 20 screws on each planter. That gets you a 6' long by 5.5" deep planter.

The white parts are vinyl 4x4 fence posts bought at Lowes.

It seems like those cheap cedar fence boards are not available in the east coast stores. I can still get them at other lumber stores but they are not cheap.

Anyway, good to see the progress.

Try a sawmill if you can find one...I found one maybe 25km away and can get 1"x10"x8' cedar boards (rough sawn) for $3.50ea.

so rina_did you make the boxes then and used 1 by 10s ?

Jason and others are you going to seal the wood with anything.. Like linseed oil?

Cant get cedar boards any place around here.. no Hdwe stores carry or building supply even the nearest Lowes or HD.... but there is an Amish mill place .Hubby bought rough lumber from several of them..Poplar mostly.

Now he tells me I can used his beautiful planed dried planks .

Oh and read some Lowes and HD reviews. Most customers complained about the dimensions not being true etc...warped split etc...

jean

No, I didn't...but used them to side a small sunroom. Board & batten... I am thinking of buying more for some projects like bird houses and/or feeders, maybe some shelves for succulents...too many ideas, not enough time :) I have only few strawberry plants in ground and some in hanging baskets. I like Jason's creations, both boxes and hydro system.

rina: Good idea to look around outside the city area. I did find some after you suggested but I do not know the price yet. It also seems they like bulk pricing of some sort. I do not know yet.

Our HD/Lowes do sell cedar boards of several sizes - not much in stock but works for me at times. They are a bit pricier - do not remember the price though - probably 2-3 times a similarly sized pine boards. I think the HD ones are a bit cheaper since they are smooth on one side and rough on the other side.

jeanwedding: HD/Lowes lumber are bottom of the line. I select through the pieces to find few of them that are straight and flat. It is a pain to sort through them.

@tropicofcancer(SW-PA 6b) Sorting is hard. My dad I were buying interlocking pine boards to build a sliding barn door for the house and we found that 40% of the ones we looked at were acceptable! They had to be fat and no warped so they butted up to each other to fit in the tongue and groove. Took us over an hour to find, try, and buy 20.

Quick update. I planted alyssum as suggested. We shall see how it goes. The Sequoia strawberries are doing great.

Strawberries in the hydroponic system are amazing. So huge.

Jason

Looking really great, your plants are huge!

We are all coming to strawberry picking/eating party...

Jason, do you have any more pictures from the peak of summer? I would love to see how it all went with the strawberries all red and the alyssum in bloom!

Jason

I also have a question: how do you overwinter your strawberries?

Considering he is z7, Rona, he may be able to leave them as is. Folks used to have a garden when I was a kid. We were z5/6. Never had to take any special steps to overwinter strawberry plants. However, we were growing them in the ground ...

Paul

Thnx, that's what I do. Few froze in my location in very flimsy pot - I think because I left it too exposed to winds...But there is so many runners, I am 'running' out of space :)

Edited to add: I am wondering about overwintering plants growing hydroponically.