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Vertical bed can be called an unusual and successful invention. The design saves a lot of space at the summer cottage. If you approach this issue creatively, then the vertical bed will be an excellent decoration for the yard. Moreover, this facility can be used to grow not only flowers or ornamental plants. Vertical strawberry beds, allowing you to harvest a huge crop in a small suburban area.
Vertical beds from sewer pipes
This invention should rightfully be given the first place. When it comes to growing strawberries or strawberries in vertical beds, then sewer PVC pipes are the number 1 material for the construction of the structure.
Let's look at what is the advantage of using pipe beds:
- The sewer pipe is sold with accessories. The use of elbows, tees or half-legs allows you to quickly and easily assemble a vertical bed of an unusual shape. The simplest strawberry bed can be a vertically dug PVC pipe with a diameter of 110 mm.
- The plastic pipe is resistant to weather disasters. The material does not corrode, rot, and the formation of fungus. Even garden pests will not gnaw plastic. During the period of heavy rainstorms, do not be afraid that the strawberries will be washed out of the pipe along with the soil.
- Installation strawberry beds made of PVC pipes can be performed even on the asphalt near the house. The building will become a real decoration of the yard. Red strawberries or strawberries will always be clean, easy to pick, and if necessary, the entire garden can be moved to another place.
- Each PVC pipe serves as a separate section of the vertical bed. In the event of a manifestation of a strawberry disease, the pipe with the affected plants is removed from the common garden bed in order to prevent the spread of the disease through all the bushes.
And finally, the low cost of PVC pipes allows you to get an inexpensive and beautiful garden bed that will last for more than a dozen years.
It is not difficult to build a strawberry bed from one vertically dug pipe. However, we need an unusual idea. Now we will look at how to make a vertical strawberry bed with a volumetric design, as shown in the photo.
For work, you will need PVC pipes with a diameter of 110 mm, as well as tees of a similar section. The amount of material depends on the size of the bed, and to calculate it, you need to make a simple drawing.
The frame of the bed being created consists of two parallel pipes on the ground. They form the base. All lower pipes are connected using tees, where vertical posts are inserted into the central hole at an angle. From above, they converge into one line, where, using the same tees, they are fastened with one jumper from the pipe. The result is an upside-down V-shape.
So, let's start making:
- First, racks are made from the pipe. They are cut to the required length and holes with a diameter of 100 mm are drilled on the sides with a step of 200 mm. Strawberries will grow in these windows.
- With the help of tees and pieces of pipes, two blanks of the base of the frame are assembled. Gravel is poured inside for the stability of the structure.The center holes of the tees are not filled to the top. You need to leave some space for inserting the racks.The gravel filler at the base will act as a reservoir for excess water generated during irrigation.
- Two ready-made blanks of the base of the frame are laid on the ground parallel to each other. Racks prepared with drilled windows are inserted into the central holes of the tees. Now they all need to be tilted inside the frame. The tees on the pipe connections are easy to twist.
- Now it's time to put on tees on the top of the racks and connect them together with pieces of pipes in one line. This will be the top rail of the frame.
In conclusion, you need to solve a small nuance. The stands of the vertical bed must be covered with soil, and the growing strawberries must be watered. This can only be done on top of the frame. To do this, on the tees of the upper strapping, you will have to cut windows opposite the inserted rack. Alternatively, crosses can be used instead of tees for the upper base of the frame. Then, opposite each rack, a ready-made hole is obtained for filling the soil and watering the strawberries.
The frame of the vertical bed is ready, it's time to make an irrigation system and fill the soil inside each rack:
- A simple device is made for watering strawberries. A plastic pipe with a diameter of 15-20 mm is cut 100 mm longer than the vertical stand of the bed. Throughout the pipe, holes with a diameter of 3 mm are drilled as thickly as possible. One end of the pipe is closed with a plastic or rubber plug. Such blanks must be made according to the number of vertical racks of the frame.
- The resulting perforated tubes are wrapped in burlap and fixed with wire or cord. Now the tube is inserted inside the rack through the window on the top trim of the tee or cross. It is important to center the sprinkler so that the watering tube is exactly in the middle of the rack. For fixation and drainage, 300 mm of gravel is poured inside the rack.
- Holding the protruding end of the irrigation pipe with your hand, fertile soil is poured into the rack. Having reached the first hole, a strawberry or strawberry bush is planted, and then continue backfilling until the next hole. The procedure continues until the entire rack is covered with soil and planted with plants.
When all the racks are filled with soil in this way and planted with strawberries, the vertical bed is considered complete. It remains to pour water into the irrigation pipes for irrigation and wait for the harvest of delicious berries.
The video tells about the manufacture of a vertical bed:
Wooden vertical beds for strawberries from boxes
You can make an ecologically clean and beautiful vertical bed for strawberries from wooden boxes with your own hands. You will need boards to make them. Better to take blanks from oak, larch or cedar. The wood of this tree species is less susceptible to decay. If this is not possible, ordinary pine boards will do.
Vertical beds from wooden boxes set in tiers. This arrangement allows for optimal lighting for each plant. There are many ways to arrange tiers. Several examples can be seen in the photo. It can be an ordinary pyramid, and not only rectangular, but also triangular, polygonal or square.
The box is hammered together from the boards. It is important that each upstream box of the vertical strawberry bed is smaller. The easiest way for strawberries to make rectangular vertical beds in the form of a ladder. All boxes are knocked down to the same length. It can be taken arbitrarily, although it is optimal to stop at 2.5 or 3 m.To make a ladder out of the boxes, they are made of different widths. Let's say the structure consists of three boxes. Then the first one, the one that stands on the ground, is made 1 m wide, the next one is 70 cm, and the topmost one is 40 cm.That is, the width of each box of the vertical bed differs by 30 cm.
The prepared area for a vertical bed is covered with a black non-woven cloth. It will prevent penetration weedsthat will eventually clog the strawberries. On top of the canvas, a box is installed with a ladder. The boxes are covered with fertile soil, and strawberries are planted on the steps formed.
Vertical beds for strawberries from old tires
Good vertical strawberry or strawberry beds can be made from old car tires. Again, you will have to pick up tires of different diameters. You may need to visit a nearby landfill or contact a service station.
If only the same size tires are found, it doesn't matter. They will make an excellent vertical bed. It is only necessary to cut a window for planting strawberries on the tread of each tire. Having laid a piece of black agrofolkan on the ground, put one tire. Fertile soil is poured inside, and a plastic perforated pipe is placed in the center. Get exactly the same drainage as was done for the vertical beds of sewer pipes... Strawberries are planted in each side window, after which the next tire is placed on top. The procedure continues until the pyramid is completed. The drain pipe should protrude from the ground of the top tire to pour water into it.
If you managed to collect tires of different diameters, then you can build a stepped pyramid. However, first, a side flange is cut from one side of each tire to the tread itself. The widest tire is placed on the bottom. Soil is poured inside and a tire of a smaller diameter is placed on top. Everything is repeated until the completion of the construction of the pyramid. Now it remains to plant strawberries or strawberries in each step of the vertical bed.
It is important to know that car tires are not an environmentally friendly material. They are more suitable for flowers and ornamental plants. It is undesirable to grow strawberries in tires, although many summer residents continue to do this.
Vertical bed of bags
They began to grow strawberries in bags a long time ago. Usually the sleeve was sewn from reinforced polyethylene or tarpaulin. The bottom was sewn up, and a homemade bag was obtained. It was installed near any support, fixed, and fertile soil was poured inside. The irrigation drain was made from a perforated plastic pipe. On the sides of the bag, cuts were made with a knife, where the strawberries were planted. Now ready-made bags are sold in many stores.
Get creative with the process growing strawberries, then a vertical bed can be made from many sewn bags in several rows. A similar example is shown in the photo. Pockets are sewn on a large canvas. All of them are small and designed for planting one strawberry bush. Such a vertical bed of bags is hung on a fence or wall of any building.
The video tells about the cultivation of strawberries all year round in bags:
Growing strawberries in vertical beds from PET bottles
Create a vertical bed for growing strawberries without a penny of investment will help plastic bottles with a capacity of 2 liters. We'll have to visit the dump again, where you can collect many colorful bottles.
On all containers, cut off the bottom with a sharp knife. A mesh fence will work well as a support for a vertical bed. The first bottle is attached to the net from the bottom with the cut bottom up. The plug is screwed on loosely or a drainage hole is drilled in it. 50 mm recede from the upper edge of the bottle, and a cut is made for the plant. Soil is poured inside the bottle, then a strawberry bush is planted so that its leaves look out of the cut hole.
In a similar way, prepare the next bottle, place it with a cork in the lower container with already growing strawberries, and then fix it to the net.The procedure continues as long as there is free space on the fence mesh.
In the next photo, do-it-yourself vertical strawberry beds are made from 2 liter bottles hanging up with a cork. Here you can see that two windows opposite each other are cut in the side walls. Soil is poured inside each bottle and a strawberry or strawberry bush is planted.
You can make a vertical bed from any materials at hand... The main thing is that there is a desire, and then strawberries will thank you with a generous harvest of delicious berries.
