Growing Strawberries? This Brilliant Backyard Method Is So Easy

At some point or another, most of us have attempted to keep a house plant alive, or experimented with growing herbs on a windowsill. Even with this experience under your belt, growing fruits and vegetables can seem like quite a step up, especially if it means graduating to the outdoors. If you are lucky enough to have a backyard area, growing sweet and juicy strawberries can be a great gardening project, and there's a method that makes it easy enough for beginners — you actually don't even need a true garden. By growing strawberries in gutters, they can be added wherever you have vertical space, such as along a fence.

All this method requires is a gutter strip with some drainage holes added, and the ends sealed shut to keep everything in place. Then, simply hang and fill with soil, and you're ready to plant strawberries. Since they don't have a deep root system, the fruits can thrive in such a shallow planter, with the plants themselves hanging over the gutter with plenty of room to grow.

Even if you're a seasoned gardener, there's a lot to love about this strawberry-growing method. It clears up garden beds for more demanding plants, while at the same time making use of walls or fences that would otherwise be bare. Keeping the plants off the ground also means fruit is cleaner when it comes time to harvest, and it can even curb certain critters such as rabbits. Finally, there's the personal benefits — vertical gardening of any kind is going to be easier on your knees and back.

Once you have your gutter-style planter ready to roll, it's time to set yourself up for success with a few tips for growing the best strawberries. The first is the placement of your vertical garden beds. Strawberries love the sun, so if you can find a wall or fence that will get around eight hours a day to hang your gutter, you'll be off to a good start.

The type of strawberry you pick for your planter is also important. Though you might be tempted by the large fruit of June-bearing strawberries, everbearing or day-neutral varieties have more compact plants that are better suited to the gutter system. You can also grow strawberries from cut fruit, but it will still take about a year before the plant bears fruit.

Strawberries require plenty of water and nutrients, and even more so in a closed system. Make sure you start with a good potting mix and top up regularly with fertilizer. During the summer you will need to water your plants daily, as they can easily dry out without access to groundwater. However, excess water can kill your plants just as easily, which is why adding enough drainage holes to the gutter is so important.