9 types of beds for strawberries, German and Finnish technology for growing berries

How to choose a place for strawberry beds

To create beds for strawberries, you need to choose a sunny, level place. Strawberries bear fruit well in the sun. A damp area, and even in the shade, is not suitable for it. In such an area, strawberries will suffer from viral or fungal diseases.

High humidity also affects the taste of the berry: it becomes soft, watery, and therefore not transportable.

Strawberry beds should be positioned from east to west so that the bushes receive plenty of sunlight throughout the day.

The best time to plant the crop is August and September. At this time, a large number of planting sockets appear, just choose.

But it is better to prepare the area for planting in the spring and sow it with green manure. Strawberries will grow well after lupine. The grown lupine is mowed down, and the area under the bed is spilled, for example, with Fitosporin.

You can prepare the bed in the summer, after digging out its good predecessors. The best predecessors of strawberries are garlic, onions, legumes, radishes, parsley, celery.

By August, many vegetables ripen, the beds are cleared, and it’s time to plant Victoria. Neighbors can be mint, parsley, legumes, cucumbers, onions, sorrel. It is undesirable to be near fruit trees so that the caterpillars do not attack the Victoria.

Cleaning the soil from weeds and insects

Before planting, the land must be carefully prepared. It is recommended to dig it up, then check for the presence of roots of perennial weeds, as well as wintering reserves of the pest. It is best to thoroughly steam it with boiling water after cleaning the soil. But this method is suitable for small quantities.

On a large area we do this:

• in the spring we remove a layer of earth 10 cm thick;
• We dig a hole 1x1 m and put the removed layers there;
• Place the last layer with the roots facing up;
• pour warm water over everything and cover with film;
• leave air gaps at ground level.

Over the course of several months, the soil will be steamed under the film. Afterwards the soil needs to be sifted. Done, ready to use.

In addition, garden soil may be full of harmful insect larvae and spores of various fungal diseases. They can be eliminated using special preparations for soil treatment. Among them are Fitosporin, Intavir, Aktara and Quadris.

As you can see, preparatory and planting work can be time-consuming. But the right location, well-formed beds, ideal soil and timely fertilizing can be the key to an excellent harvest in the future. And already next season you will be able to pamper yourself with delicious berries grown on your own plot, equipped with your own hands.

Dimensions of an ideal bed and general planting rules

With good care, a strawberry plantation can last up to 5 years. Then the soil becomes depleted, accumulates harmful elements, and old bushes cease to produce fruitful crops. In this case, updating the plants, changing the location or replacing the soil is required.

After preparing the place, you should choose the right size of beds for strawberries so that they are easy to care for.

To create the right plantations, take into account the following dimensions:

1. The width of the bed is 80 centimeters, the bushes are planted in two rows, leaving 40 cm between rows. With this arrangement, the bushes are well ventilated, it is convenient to weed and loosen the rows, and there are no difficulties with picking berries.
2. The distance between the bushes is 25-30 cm: in remontant varieties the bushes are more powerful and tall, so the distance between them must be maintained at least 30 cm.
3. The optimal distance between the beds is 65 cm.
4. The height of the bed is from 20 cm to 1 m, it all depends on the planting option.

To make the berries less painful, it is better to plant seedlings under a black film with ready-made holes. This landing has its advantages:

• no weeds,
• the berries rot less because they do not come into contact with the ground and
• even after rain they remain clean.

When forming a plantation, we must not forget about nutritious soil. By filling the bed with compost, humus, and peat, you can do without additional fertilizer for 3-4 years.

To prevent fungal diseases, the bed is thoroughly watered with Fitosporin solution before planting new rosettes.

Dutch technology

This technology means year-round cultivation of strawberries. The process involves planting garden strawberry bushes in a container with soil. The plant must be provided with the necessary lighting, regular watering and good humidity. Regardless of the time of day, the temperature from the moment the flowers appear is set at around +28°C.

Certain conditions are created for culture to awaken. To start fruiting, a special solution is used, which is applied to the plants by drip. After harvesting, the seedlings are thrown away.

The advantage of this method is its simplicity and low risk of infection. Remontant varieties are optimal for cultivation.

Preparing beds for strawberries

A prepared bed for strawberries frees us from unnecessary hassle with applying fertilizers. It is known that Victoria grows well on slightly acidic loams (pH 5.5-6), where a large amount of organic matter has been added.

There are two ways to prepare a plantation:

1. Dig up the soil with the introduction of mineral and organic nutrition;
2. Mix several components separately, and then fill the bed with this mixture.

How to make a garden bed with digging?

A month before planting strawberries, dig up the bed using a spade. If the soil is heavy, then rotted sawdust with urea and ash is added to the bed (for 10 kg of sawdust, 2 tablespoons of urea dissolved in 2 liters of water, and 1 glass of ash). You can add peat with ash (200 grams of ash per 1 bucket of peat).

When digging, it is recommended to apply 5-6 kg of manure per 1 square meter. meter. There is another option for applying fertilizer: 6-8 kg of humus or compost per 1 square meter. meter; 50 g superphosphate; 15 g potassium sulfate 50 g urea.

If it is not possible to dig up a bed, for example, in pipes or pyramids, then you will need the following components, taken in equal parts. This

• turf land,
• compost,
• peat and
• sawdust.

The mixed components are simply laid out or scattered on the beds.

Types of beds for strawberries

Gone are the days when strawberries were planted in simple beds. Gardeners have always experimented and found many ways to plant berry crops in new ways.

Tall, warm, multi-tiered, smart beds, as well as pyramid-shaped and lazy ones, are becoming popular. Gardeners were also interested in low beds formed with their own hands using German or Finnish technology and under agrofibre.

Most often, summer residents choose a simple method - bulk beds. But they can be washed away by heavy rainfall, preventing Victoria from growing. You can try each method of forming a bed for strawberries with your own hands, and then choose the most successful one.

Raised beds for strawberries

High ridges will be especially useful where the area is swampy or with close groundwater.

Growing strawberries in high beds:

• Choose a sunny area, mark the bed, fence it with boards, bricks, slate, sheets of iron, etc. You can buy a ready-made frame or put together a box from boards. Make the height of the fence from 40 to 80 centimeters.
• Be sure to put drainage at the bottom of the bed, in a layer of 15 centimeters. For drainage, you can use expanded clay, brick fragments, and small tree branches. Place leaves, grass, straw, food waste on top to provide warmth and nutrition.
• Next, fill the entire structure with a loose mixture of humus, compost, peat and turf soil, taken in equal parts.

Raised beds for strawberries have obvious advantages: they make caring for plants easier; gives the opportunity to grow berries in a cool region.

Warm beds for strawberries

Warm beds are obtained by rotting organic matter, which is placed at the bottom of the strawberry bed.

1. First you need to make wooden boxes, 60-70 cm high, 80 cm wide.
2. Then dig a hole for each box, install the box, and cover the sides with earth.
3. Then pour in everything that is in the garden: mown grass, straw, kitchen waste, tree branches, currants, raspberries.
4. Then pour earth mixed with humus, sand, ash, and pour hot water over it.

It is good to plant berry seedlings in a warm bed. After preparing the soil, plant strawberry seedlings in the box in 2 rows and cover with transparent film.

When the seedlings take root, remove the film and let the berries grow in a warm bed. Very soon you will see the advantage of such planting in the form of an early harvest.

Smart

How to make beds for strawberries, which are called smart? Smart beds make care more convenient.

Formation process:

• Dig a trench to a depth of 40 cm.
• Install a tall box made of boards, slate or plastic boxes.
• Install the next box at a distance of 1 meter. By making such a distance between the beds, you can bring a wheelbarrow, put a garden chair and calmly care for the bushes.
• Cover the bottom of the bed with long-rotting waste (rotted sawdust, shavings, small branches, old paper or cardboard).
• Sprinkle a layer of nutritious and disinfected soil on top.
• Level it with a rake and pour hot water over it.

In order not to waste time on watering, you should use drip irrigation in a smart garden bed. When planting seedlings, it is necessary to calculate the distance to the holes in the hose. As a result, water will drip directly under the root, and the spaces between the plants will remain slightly moist.

Hoses with holes can be purchased at the store.

Based on the principle of forming smart beds, you can make a lazy garden by adding a different order for planting vegetables and berries.

Since strawberries require care, it is better to plant them closer to the exit from the house. Why? When a person goes out into the garden, he is full of enthusiasm, he immediately begins to weed, thoroughly loosen, and water to the fullest extent. After a while, the fervor subsides, and the work is no longer so successful.

Pyramid

By making a pyramidal structure, you will create an easy-to-maintain garden bed. Watering such a structure is not very convenient, so each tier should be equipped with drip tape.

The substrate for planting strawberries must be filled with perlite and a nutrient mixture with the addition of organic matter. For the winter, the structure is covered with hay and non-woven material.

You can make pyramid-shaped strawberry beds from car tires, pipes, boards, bags, even barrels. There are a lot of ideas and each is original in its own way.

Vertical

A strawberry bed for the lazy is a vertical garden. When caring for berry crops, you don’t have to bend over, you don’t have to fight weeds or loosen the rows. If you stretch the tapes for drip irrigation, then watering is not difficult.

Vertical devices are also best suited for lazy gardening. If you look at the photos of vertical beds, you won’t mind the time to create such a miracle at your dacha.

If you don’t have time to create complex designs, then you don’t need much time to make fabric with pockets. Having completed such a structure, you will also get a good vertical bed.

Multi-tiered

If there is not enough space on the site for planting strawberries, then you can create tiered beds. They will not only feed you delicious berries, but will also add originality to your dacha.

The advantages of a multi-tiered bed are considered to be ease of care, rapid ripening of the crop due to better heating of the plantation, and ease of harvesting. To prevent the soil in the containers from drying out, it is necessary to add hydrogel to the soil and install tapes for drip irrigation.

Low beds using German technology

Every summer resident wants not only to work on his plot, but to have fun. Therefore, they try different original technologies.

Perhaps enthusiasts will be attracted to the German technology of growing berries. It consists of placing partitions made of wooden boards, bricks or slate between the rows, but not making furrows.

Low ridges are made 20-40 cm high and 40-80 cm wide. Bushes are planted on them in two rows. The distance between seedlings in a row is at least 40 cm.

According to Finnish technology

Arranging beds using Finnish technology involves applying fertilizer to the plantation and then covering it with material with holes in which strawberries are planted.

To moisten the soil, pipes for drip irrigation are laid under the agrofibre.

How to make beds under agrofibre

Planting under agrofibre with slots is a common technique for planting Victoria. Agrofibre allows water and air to pass through, so it is much better than film, which still needs to be cut through. Advantages of the technology:

• In spring, the soil under the shelter warms up faster;
• The plantation does not wash away even with heavy rain;
• Weeds do not penetrate the fiber;
• The berries are always healthy and clean because they do not come into contact with the ground.

Stages of creating beds for agrofibre:

1. Digging up the plantation with the addition of fertilizers;
2. After marking, create high bulk ridges (up to 50 cm in height);
3. Covering the entire plantation (including furrows) with agrofibre with slots in which strawberries will be planted;
4. Fastening agrofibre with pins, boards, bricks;
5. If there are no slots, then the material is cut through in the places where the bushes are planted.

Other options

All gardeners are true experimenters. They immediately transfer the best ideas for creating discounts to their dacha.

Strawberries in trenches

Where there is a dry area, trench planting is used. The trench is prepared in the fall. The depth of the trench is 30-40 cm, but you can dig deeper.

Having dug a trench, it is filled with organic matter. Fresh grass is placed at the bottom, and then covered with a mixture of compost and soil. This is the first stage. The second stage is carried out in the same sequence. Then the ridges are watered.

Over the winter, the organic matter will rot, and in the spring, rosettes of strawberries are already planted in the prepared trenches. If you mulch the bed after planting, you can forget about watering for a long time.

Strawberry bed

Today it is no longer uncommon in gardens to see strawberries in flower beds. It is most often made from boards or old tires. Sometimes flower pots, bottles, and buckets are used.

A strawberry flowerbed is a structure consisting of several tiers. Each tier is smaller in size than the previous one. You can make 3,4 and 6 tiers. It is not recommended to do more, since it is difficult to reach the top floor, and it will take up too much space in the dacha.

A flowerbed is easy to make if you know a few tricks. When making a pyramid of boards, it is better to take pine boards; they are less susceptible to rotting. The pine pyramid will last 5 years. If the boards are treated with anti-rotting agents, they will last for 10 years.

The size of the bed is most often made 1.5 by 1.5; if you take more, it will be difficult to care for the plants.

Many are made from car tires. The round type of pyramid, hung with red berries, looks very attractive, no worse than a square one made of wood.

Berry beds can be placed in the most inconvenient places on the site. They don't take up much space and look very beautiful.

Growing in tunnels

For planting a large number of bushes in a spacious summer cottage, tunnels covered with film are perfect. Growing crops in them gives a large harvest, and at an early date. The manufacturing principle is simple: arcs up to 80 cm high are bent from wire. The width between the bases should not exceed the height. The metal frame is installed at the intended growing site and secured with transverse wires. Then they stretch the film in one or two layers and press it to the ground with the help of boards.

Inside the tunnel, fertile soil is laid in advance, consisting of a drainage layer, humus, peat and organic fertilizers. To remove excess moisture, “pockets” filled with stones are made on the sides. The strawberry planting pattern can be anything, but experienced gardeners recommend placing the bushes in the shape of the letter “M”. It is considered optimal for a drip irrigation system, since it prevents plants from flooding and rotting of the root system. Growing strawberries in film tunnels has a number of advantages:

• early fruit ripening;
• protection from excess sun;
• retaining moisture in the soil, retaining heat;
• protection from wind gusts.

The disadvantages include the regular need for ventilation; during hot periods, the berry begins to “burn” and often, due to the gardener’s forgetfulness, drops its buds and bears fruit poorly.

Attention! Strawberry varieties with abundant whisker formation cannot be grown in film tunnels. Density of plantings leads to growth inhibition and reduces yields.

What materials are comfortable beds made from?

They make beds from everything you can find on your farm. For example, from barrels, boards, tires, slate, bags, plastic bottles, pipes, boxes, bricks, cinder blocks.

Having selected a sample bed, you can begin production.

Strawberry beds made from boards

By constructing beds for Victoria from boards, you give your site well-groomed and neat. You can build a pyramid from the boards or make steps by filling them with soil. A stepped bed can be placed against any wall or fence; it will improve the aesthetic appearance of any building.

Bulk beds for strawberries

Having fenced off a small area with boards, the inside of the box is filled with a nutrient mixture. To make the berries touch the ground less, rows of slats are made. Berries laid on slats remain clean and suffer less.

Strawberry beds from a barrel

The easiest way to make a discount from a barrel. Make holes in a plastic or iron barrel. It is best to cover the inside of the barrel with burlap to prevent the soil from spilling out. Insert a pipe with holes for irrigation into the barrel. Place a large amount of fresh grass and small branches at the bottom, then add nutritious soil. Place Victoria rosettes in the holes. Water from above into the pipe, you get drip irrigation.

Beautiful strawberry beds made of slate

Horizontal beds made of slate are smooth and neat. Slate dug in around the edges will not rot and will retain its neat appearance for a long time. It is very easy to build a slate shed, since this material can be sawed into any shape.

In order for the slate to hold the ground well, you need to drive neat pegs in from the outside. The pegs can be painted with different colors of paint.

Beautiful beds for strawberries made from tires

If you have accumulated a lot of car tires, then you can make a beautiful pyramid out of tires, which will last for many years unchanged. Round ridges will decorate any summer cottage.

The tires are not only placed on top of each other, they are placed in random order. They pour soil into them, paint the outer sides in all the colors of the rainbow, and plant strawberry rosettes inside.

From bags

Strong bags filled with soil turn into beautiful flower beds in skillful hands. The tiered appearance of plantings even gives bags a presentable appearance.

Pour fertile soil with hydrogel inside the bags, make cuts on the outside, and plant Victoria seedlings.

From bottles

Every family collects a bunch of plastic bottles. If you cut off one side of them and fill them with soil with hydrogel, then attach them to a fence or mesh, you will get a unique strawberry bed.

This type of planting is convenient because the net with attached bottles can be attached to any wall or fence. The advantage is easy care and convenient berry picking.

PVC pipes

Unusual beds are made from pipes. In horizontal beds made of PVC pipes you can plant twice as many plants as on the plot. This is confirmed by those summer residents who have already tried this option for planting Victoria.

Multi-tiered flower bed

A multi-tiered strawberry flower bed is also a good solution. If you want, you can do it yourself. For this purpose, brick, curb stone, tires or wooden boxes are used.

Choose one of these. Next, you need to purchase special forms in the store, which will need to be installed using the previously selected material.

How to make holes or rows for strawberries

Preparing the holes is very important for good seedling growth. The holes must be laid out so that it is convenient for the plants to grow. First, decide on the width and height of the strawberry bed. If the width of the ridge is 45-50 cm, then the holes are made in one row. With a width of 70-75 cm, planting is done in two rows.

The height depends on the ground. In dry areas, there is no need to raise the beds high. However, the high option has become much more popular than the low option. But this is at the request of the gardener.

Now about the depth of the hole. The depth must be at least 10 cm. Having deepened the hole, fill it with water and let it soak. After this, keep the roots of the plant for 25 minutes in a solution of salt and copper sulfate (10 liters of water, 7 g of copper sulfate, 40 g of salt).

Before planting, rinse the roots with water, lower them into the hole, and cover them with soil, leaving the bud open for growth. Plant rosettes at a distance of 25 cm from each other, so they will develop better.

Choosing a cozy place

How large and juicy your strawberries will be largely depends on the type of soil in which they grow. This crop is best suited for chernozem podzolized and gray forest soils with a light loamy and sandy loam composition. They provide good ventilation of the roots and allow the optimal amount of moisture to pass through. Acidity is allowed within pH 6. The close occurrence of groundwater threatens an excess of moisture, which can lead to various diseases. You can reap a larger harvest on southwestern slopes with a slight steepness (3 degrees).

The site should be:

• protected from the wind;
• well lit and ventilated;
• cleared of weeds;
• not swampy.

Make sure that water will not stagnate in the area, and if the area is low-lying, then in the fall you need to make grooves along the rows for better surface drainage.

What can you plant next to strawberries?

Strawberries are considered a non-conflict crop, so they can thrive next to many plants, such as peas, beans, radishes, radishes and carrots. But if you plant them in the same bed, as they grow, these plants will darken the berry bushes.

Plant these crops in beds side by side rather than in the same area. To repel harmful insects, you can plant onions and garlic, a bush of marigolds and marigolds on the plantation.

It’s a good idea to plant sage, parsley, spinach, and borage between the rows; they will repel slugs.

For many gardeners, it will come as unexpected news - the possibility of planting tulips or irises between Victoria rosettes.

Such proximity is not only a decoration, but also an incentive for abundant fruiting of strawberries. In addition, Victoria is often planted next to clematis, peony, ferns, nasturtium, and delphinium to increase productivity.

But with tomatoes, potatoes and other nightshade crops, Victoria will grow poorly and produce a meager harvest. Do not plant next to raspberries, sunflowers and Jerusalem artichokes.

How can you cover the beds?

The strawberry plantation can be covered with covering material for the winter. Spunbond, agrofibre, is a well-known covering material that is often used to protect seedlings from frost.

Such a shelter is convenient because it does not create condensation inside, since it allows moisture to pass through it. Another advantage of agrofibre is environmental safety. The plantation is simply covered with agrofibre, secured around the entire perimeter with pins or bricks.

Mulching with straw is a common method of covering Victoria for the winter. When straw rots, it releases hay bacillus, which has a beneficial effect on the soil. Those bushes with rotted straw under them will never suffer from root rot. And in winter, straw will protect plants from frost.

Marigolds not only repel pests, but also contribute to the accumulation of snow in the garden bed. If you have marigolds growing, then do not cut them for the winter, they will serve as a snow retainer. Sometimes they are cut and covered with strawberry bushes to protect them from freezing.

As you can see, there are a lot of ideas for creating beds for strawberries. I would like to use them all on my site. If our readers have already experienced any method of creating plantations, then share with us in the comments. Secrets and new methods will be useful for all summer residents and readers of our blog.

World of Gardening

Gardening, floriculture, vegetable gardening (vegetable garden), dacha chores and a lot of interesting things for those who love dachas and growing plants

• News
• Seasonal work Watering
• Seeds, seedlings, saplings
• beds
• Greenhouses
• Defense drugs
• Pest Control
• Control of plant diseases
• Protection of the garden and work in the country
• Other work in the country and at home
• Soil, mulch, compost
• Plant nutrition, growth stimulants

Home » My Garden » Strawberries » Strawberries - preparing a bed for strawberries