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An apartment or house can be decorated with many plants, but only strawberries on the balcony are the best way to complement the cozy and comfortable atmosphere of any home..
What variety to plant?
Many are interested in the question of the possibility of growing ordinary strawberries at home. Unfortunately, the cultivation of most of these common varieties allows you to get only one crop in one season.
To achieve a good result from growing strawberries at home, when choosing it, first of all, you should pay attention to remontant varieties. If you grow such a variety in a container with a volume of fifteen liters, then from one such container you can get up to one and a half kilograms of berries, and this is only in the first year of planting.
If you choose an ordinary variety, then even if there are large rosettes for the same period, the harvest will be much less. You have to wait from him for a good harvest only next year and then if the plants survive the cold well. As for transplantation, young plants tolerate it best. Transplanting should not be done when the plant is already old, so it is recommended that strawberries be grown directly in their “native” containers for two years.
You will be able to see all the positive differences between remontant varieties after several harvests. In fact, strawberries on the balcony can bear fruit from May to December. The cultivation of strawberries on the balcony itself does not have a universal solution to its problems, therefore, in this case, an integrated approach is required.
Of course, the remontant variety is the most suitable for balcony seedlings. In particular, strawberries of the Elizabeth 2 variety are the most suitable option.
Growing structures
To grow good strawberries and have room to grow, you first need three liter containers. Plants are planted in special balcony boxes at a distance of at least twenty centimeters from each other. If you plant berries in large containers, the volume of which reaches fifteen liters, then three or four plants are enough to fill it. They must be evenly distributed, and at the bottom – provide holes for draining excess water.
In general, both a hanging pot and a bookcase, along with a solid rectangular container, are great for strawberries. As for the hanging pot, it must be fixed with small hooks and a rope around the rim, followed by a garter to the ceiling. A trio of ropes will provide good stability. In addition, in this way you can place the pots one above the other, which saves a lot of space.
To create a whatnot, you first need to place a large pot, after that – an insert-cylinder, on which a smaller vessel is placed. In this way, it is possible to create up to five tiers. Up to six plants can be placed on the first tier, and only one can fit on the top tier, but nevertheless, such a design will look unsurpassed.
Examples of devices for vertical cultivation of strawberries
The worst way is to plant in solid rectangular boxes. The whole reason is inefficient use of space, as they take up a lot of space, but one such box can hold a maximum of ten bushes.
Agrotechnics
Seedlings with several pairs of leaves and a developed bud are great for planting. It can be purchased at a specialized store, or grown in your own garden (if any).
It is best to use early planting seedlings. For example, March. Then, as a rule, it will be usable already in April. As a matter of fact, it is in April that the resulting seedlings are planted on the balcony.
However, planting can be done at any time of the year, but the later, the smaller the first harvest will be, but this does not mean that we must rush. Strawberries on the balcony begin to grow actively in May, as the ambient temperature is still quite low. If the balcony is fully glazed, then landing is recommended only in April.
Of course, some gardeners resort to tricks, like planting strawberries in April and placing them on the windowsill of an apartment in 0,7-liter pots, followed by transplanting them into standard balcony boxes in the country. When such resourceful gardeners leave their dachas at the end of April, they take the transplanted strawberries with them. This is a good way to grow it. By the way, autumn berries are able to tolerate frost up to six degrees, therefore, if the above method of cultivation is used, strawberries on the balcony will delight the gardener with their fruits all autumn.
As for feeding strawberries, all mixtures based on semi-decomposed peat, to which various useful mineral fertilizers are added, are considered the best substrate. If you are not an adherent of mineral fertilizers, then it is possible to prepare the substrate on your own using neutralized high-moor peat, manure humus or biohumus. Proportions must be observed one to one.
Strawberries are a fairly demanding crop in terms of care. Fertilizing the soil should be done once a week, just like watering. Kemira Lux is great as a fertilizer. If you are against them, then you will have to use slurry, diluting it in proportions of one to twenty.
When using a substrate of decomposed upper peat, there will be absolutely no problems with determining the amount of water needed for strawberries and the frequency of watering. Water is able to pass through it quite easily, with the subsequent exit through the holes at the bottom of the container. But if the composition of the substrate includes too much humus and lowland peat, then waterlogging cannot be avoided. To exclude such a negative consequence, it is necessary to place small pebbles or expanded clay on the bottom of the container.
When it comes to high-moor peat, the problem of lack of moisture arises. During irrigation, overdried peat will absorb water very poorly, which will have a detrimental effect on the plant itself. Compensation for such a problem can be achieved by completely lowering the container with strawberries into water and leaving it in this position for a couple of hours. If the container is really dry, then it will be on the surface.
Covering strawberries in winter
In order for the strawberries on the balcony to survive the winter, you need to remove it from the container and bury it in the soil to the surface level, then water it well. Also, do not forget about the subsequent compaction of the soil around the plants. As for additional protection, if necessary, various kinds of shelters can be used.
Of course, the balcony can also become a wintering place for strawberries, but for this you need to cover it with sawdust after the soil has completely frozen. This is done in order to prevent the soil temperature from dropping below five degrees. During periods of thaw, strawberries should be provided with proper ventilation, as there is a risk of warming up due to positive temperatures.
Since in this case the balcony is a shelter for strawberries for the winter, they remove the shelter with the onset of spring, but at a temperature of eight degrees they should cover it again. You can also transfer the plant from the balcony in the housing to the inner window sill, but this is provided that such transportation occurs two weeks before the return move. Otherwise, it is not recommended to do this, as strawberries may suffer from a lack of light.
Video “Strawberries on the balcony”
Video from a gardening enthusiast who grows strawberries on her balcony. See what she did and listen to her sensible comments.
