Having a garden is a reality for some lucky people, but for others, it exists only in the daydream dimension. We don’t all have space for a garden, or at least one as large as we’d like. Homeowners and tenants with limited (or no) yard space have to make do with what they’ve got. Gardening can also be expensive, so finding cheap ways to grow produce is always helpful. For those of us who aspire to grow fruit bushes like strawberries but don’t have the means, a new hack doesn’t require any land or a large budget. Thanks to @norcalfamilyfarmstead on TikTok, you can repurpose old PVC pipes into horizontal strawberry planters without bursting your pockets open. To build one of these planters, you’ll create 2¼-inch holes in a PVC pipe, add drainage holes on the bottom, fill it with soil, cover the ends with end caps, and plant the seedlings in the holes.
Strawberry plants are vigorous, which is good news for you if you’re already planning to make as many jars of jam as you can. They are hardy crops and can produce a healthy yield even if you don’t grow them in the ground. With this PVC planter method, you can grow strawberries in their own little pockets while suspended in the air to bypass the issue of not having ground space. Strawberries are known for their runners which can easily grow down from each pocket, so you’ll have plenty of strawberries in no time.
How to create the PVC pipe planter
@norcalfamilyfarmstead
DIY Strawberry Pipe Planters #homesteadtiktok #homestead #foryou #farmsteadlife #greenhouse #farm
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In order to grow strawberries in PVC pipes, you will need at least one 10-foot PVC pipe, two end caps, strawberry seedlings, two garden posts made of either metal or wood and hangers for suspending the pipes, fertile soil, and an electric power drill with a 2¼-inch diameter hole saw attachment. To begin, get your posts ready. As long as the location is in full sun, you can place these posts anywhere you desire. If you have a yard, then you can stake them into the ground. If you have zero yard space, you can stand the posts up securely on your balcony.
Start by drilling holes in the PVC pipe to make the pockets. They should be uniformly-spaced out at about 6 inches. You can shorten the pipes if you want or leave them long. Make sure you screw some tiny holes at the bottom for drainage. Next, fill up the pipe with soil. To make this process swift, you can cap one end of the pipe, then pour the soil in through the other end and place the second end cap on. Hook the pipes onto the two posts to suspend them in the air. Then, carefully uproot your strawberry plants and replant them in each hole. Make sure you dig around until each pocket has enough root space for the young plants. Add more soil over your replants for support and then top it off with some water.
How to maintain your strawberry plants in the PVC pipe planter
@terracegardenideas / YouTube
The PVC pipe planter shouldn’t intimidate you when it comes to growing and caring for your strawberry plants. Nevertheless, it’ll take some getting used to. You have to adapt your strawberries to grow under the new conditions. For one, you will have to change up your watering schedule. Strawberries need well-drained soil, and since the PVC pipes are quite shallow, you have to make sure you don’t drown the roots. Water from above directly into the soil and wait for the topsoil to dry before watering again.
The planter supports the spreading nature of strawberry plants so you don’t have to fret about the runners. According to @norcalfamilyfarmstead’s replies in their comment section, the plants will eventually hang down from the holes with enough space to do their thing. However, if you live in the tropics, this might not be the hack for you, as you don’t want your plants to overheat. You also don’t want to leave these out in the cold, as they will likely suffer frostbite. Come wintertime, you can either remove the strawberries and grow new ones next spring or just grow the berries seasonally like @norcalfamilyfarmstead does. One downside to using the PVC planter is that because there isn’t lots of space for the roots, you can’t expect as bountiful a strawberry harvest as you would get from plants in the ground.
