I have been dreaming of this day for the past 3 years. I have always wanted a strawberry bed.
My excitement for strawberries goes back to my childhood. The 102 year old great aunt that I have? Well, she had a big strawberry bed in Iowa and it was so much fun picking the strawberries when we visited.
There are so many ways to use strawberries in your diet and they are one of the fruits that is good for you too!
I wasn’t sure how I was going to make my raised strawberry bed. I took the first step by buying the strawberry plants as I knew I would find a way.
On one of my walkabouts by the farm I was raised that is still in the family, I eyed myself on a very nice pallet. I called my brother to see if I could have it and he said yes so I went out and got it. I still wasn’t sure if I would use it for my strawberries or not. That was still to be decided.
Time marches on and it was time to get those strawberries planted. The following are photos of how I made this raised strawberry bed. The total cost? $12.00. Includes plants and dirt.
First I had to find a location and then do some leveling. I decided to place it on the west side of my home close to the kitchen. Before it was placed in it final resting place, I put cardboard down and a repurposed door mat that had seen its day. This will keep the weeds away.
You can see that this garden bed as a whole is in development stage and the house is to be painted. I spent last year scraping and still have more to go.
I placed the pallet over the cardboard and old door mat. I then put in repurposed bricks on the sides to keep the garden soil from leaking out.
It took exactly two bags of garden soil. I am now ready to plant my strawberry plants.
I purchased my plants from the gardener down the road that has a greenhouse. They are some very healthy plants. $3.00 each with a total of 12 plants.
When planting the strawberry plant you want to spread out the roots so they are laying in a circle. Strawberries will have runners and each of the runners will root themselves. The roots do not grow deep but instead spread.
All twelve plants fit nicely in this pallet. Now comes patience. You see I will have to wait until next year to enjoy the benefits of the berries themselves. Good things come to those who wait!
Have you re-purposed pallets before? I would love to hear from you.
