Growing Strawberries in Containers

Strawberry plants require special climatic conditions such as full day light and a well drained site to grow healthy and to obtain maximum yield. It also requires a place where you have not been planting vegetables like potatoes, tomatoes, egg plants or other similar varieties of vegetable crops. This is to ensure that your strawberry plants do not get infected by any form of virus. If no such area is available in your garden, you can go for container growing of strawberries.

Growing strawberries in a containers does not require much effort to start with.  It can be done as easily as you do any other container gardening where you plant plants in a container or in a pot. You can either select those pots that are specially designed for growing strawberries or a can or a container to grow strawberries. You can easily transport these containers to the places where the plant can get full sunlight which is an essential requirement for the healthy growth of a strawberry plant. It can also be placed anywhere in your yard or even on your windowsills conveniently.

To grow strawberries in containers you should have strawberry crowns, preferably the crowns that are certified as disease free, pots or cans, potting mix, fibre glass window screen and slow release fertilizer. If available it is always advisable to go for the pots that are designed to grow strawberries if you wish to grow strawberries in a container. These pots are available in different materials such as plastic, terracotta and in ceramic. Though a little expensive than the other two varieties, ceramic strawberry pots are the best choice to start with.
 
If no such pots are available near your place of residence, you can even do the container gardening of strawberries by using cans that are available at your home. Narrow planter boxes with an approximate depth of six to eight inches and seven inches wide can be used for planting strawberry crowns. When you use containers or cans for the purpose of planting strawberries, make nail holes on the bottom of the container or the can to avoid water storage inside the can when you water the plants in the container. Cover the holes that you have made on the bottom of the can using a fibre glass window screen to prevent erosion of soil through these holes.  

The pots that are designed for pot planting of strawberries will always have pockets up and down in the sides of the pot. Choose one plant for each pocket of the pot and three or four plants to be planted on the top. You can use all purpose soil mix to fill the container when you plant strawberry crowns in them. If you wish you can also add some reliable slow-releasing fertilizer in the ready made pot mix that you use to fill the pot. You can avoid subsequent fertilization of plant by mixing slow-releasing fertilizer with the potting soil.

Growing strawberries in containers is especially flexible for moving the plants around whenever you want and for relocating the plants to different places. Take advantage of this flexibility with strawberry growing hanging baskets or plastic pockets for a very creative gardening solution.