The sunny days are coming back and we are all looking forward to taking a walk in the park or sitting on the balcony and feeling the warm rays of sunshine on our skin. But the warm weather not only affects people, but also nature. Everything comes back to life and the mood of many garden owners improves. Anyone who is even lucky enough to have a garden... City dwellers, on the other hand, try to transform their balcony into an inviting place and even grow their own fruit and vegetables in pots and balcony boxes. Follow our tips and find out how to plant strawberries on the balcony! What would be better than a fruity summer cocktail with fresh home-grown strawberries?
Grow strawberries on the balcony to save as much space as possible
Regardless of whether you are a beginner or an experienced hobby gardener, growing fruit on your own balcony is an easy and interesting task. Having a small orchard on your balcony is a real trend and is becoming increasingly popular. The motives range from environmental aspects to increased nutritional awareness to financial reasons.
Urban gardening also requires creativity: hobby gardeners use clever ideas on how to grow strawberries in as little space as possible. These include raised beds, hanging baskets, balcony boxes or vertical gardens made from pallets. Aromatic herbs and colorful flowers also make excellent companions for strawberries. You can plant fruit and herbs individually in pots or all togethergrow in a raised bedto create a mini permaculture garden on the balcony. The biggest advantage of the urban gardening trend is undoubtedly the absence of chemicals when growing fruit. Gardeners can observe the entire process from cultivation to harvest.
Strawberries are not very demanding and require little care. The best time to plant strawberry green plants is August so that the young plants can grow sufficiently strong. Most strawberry varieties are hardy and can overwinter on the balcony with frost protection. If you want to grow strawberries in spring, around the end of April, you should choose frigo plants.
Let yourself be overFind out about the different types of strawberries, because they are more different than you would think. There are early and late, once-bearing and multiple-bearing, compact and strong climbing varieties. Strawberries can also vary greatly in aroma and taste. The diversity is enormous. So make your choice according to your harvest expectations.
What should you pay attention to when growing?
As already mentioned, choosing the right strawberry variety is the most important criterion before starting fruit cultivation. Then it is very important to choose the right planter. Most strawberry varieties do well in window boxes, while hanging baskets are perfect for hanging strawberries. Climbing varieties, on the other hand, are grown in a box with an integrated trellis.
Since space on the balcony is usually limited, many hobby gardeners resort to solutions that use the space vertically. Strawberries in the tube andStrawberry towersfor example, are becoming increasingly popular. The higher the plants grow, the higher the fruit yields. Of course, the type of container depends primarily on the available space on the balcony and the lighting conditions.
Location
Choosing the right location is equally important. To achieve large yields, place the plants in a sunny but sheltered spot. The sun and water ensure that the sweetness is formed in the fruit.
Boden
As mentioned, strawberries adapt beautifully to most conditions. The same applies to the soil conditions. However, they feel most comfortable in humus-rich, permeable soil. To enrich the soil with organic matter, add a little fresh compost. The commercially available humus fertilizers are also particularly practical.
Ensure good soil drainage. Although the soil should be constantly moist, strawberry plants do not like waterlogging - that is, water that accumulates because it cannot drain away. It is therefore recommended to create drainage with broken clay or gravel in the planter above the bottom opening.
Planting instructions:
- Spread the drainage material in the pot over the bottom opening - gravel, expanded clay, grit, pottery shards
- Fill the pot a third full with substrate and drill a planting hole in it with twice the volume of the root ball.
- Place the plant in the hollow so that the heart is at the level of the soil surface.
- A planting distance of 20 to 25 centimeters is recommended so that the plants do not block each other's light.
- Water well and add a layer of mulchmade of strawor spread compost.
Care after planting is also very important. The focus is on an adequate supply of water and nutrients. Give the plants a little water every day and fertilize every two weeks. Avoid synthetically produced fertilizer concentrates.
To snap the first flowers or not?
For larger yields, experienced strawberry growers recommend pinching out the first flowers. This will help the plant produce new shoots and more fruit. The first offshoots must also be cut off so that the plant has more strength to produce fruit.
Protection from birds and pests
A pot of aromatic strawberries seduces not only people, but also birds and snails. So you have to do a little trickery to protect your plants.
To win the fight against birds, you can place the plants under mesh baskets. You can use copper snail tape to combat snails. The metal is highly toxic to molluscs such as snails and worms.
Change the plants every three years
Even though strawberries are perennial plants, they need to be renewed after a few years. The maximum cultivation period for varieties that bear fruit several times a year cannot exceed 3 years. Strawberry plants that bear once produce a good harvest for a maximum of 5 years.
Propagation by offshoots
After four years at the latest, the strawberry plants are no longer productive. For this reason, you should propagate your strawberries in good time. This is usually done through cuttings that look like junior strawberry plants. These are usually removed in early summer for propagation purposes.
