Pallet Strawberry Planter Tips

Update***How the plants are growing one month later:

Sweet and juicy, the strawberry is the candy of the natural world, don’t you think? We love them and are anxious and excited to grow some in our garden. Well, last year I tackled my first pallet project by making this pallet planter from Lovely Greens. Too late in the growing season to plant, it was stored away in our shed and nearly forgotten until this spring when we could pull it out and allow it to fulfill its purpose.

As I purchased the little strawberry plants, I wondered: why do strawberries need special planters? Why not just plant them in the ground like other plants? My gardening inexperience is showing! How embarrassing! I had to do a little research, and if you are as inexperienced as I am, maybe you will benefit from this as well.

1. First, strawberries need well drained soil. This makes the pallet planter perfect because it allows water to drain away from the bottom and all sides.
2. They also tend to spread out runners which become new plants on their own. While growth is great, it’s nice to keep it contained in the pallet planter rather than taking over your garden.
3. The fruit hangs from the bottom and can get yucky if left in the garden. However, in the planter, they have room to droop without lying on dirt.
4. Being able to control the soil is a plus as strawberries need a pH balance of 5.5 to 7.

Now that we all know why strawberries do well in a planter, we can go over how to make one. Follow the tutorial from Lovely greens here for the assembly of the actual planter. Mine is pretty rough because I didn’t have any power tools at the time.

Once we pulled our planter out from the shed, I lined it with landscaping fabric to contain the dirt, yet allow for drainage.

Staple it to the sides to keep it up.

Fill the planter with dirt and begin planting your strawberries.

Another little tip about planting the Pallet planter is about placing the plants into the sides. This proved to be more difficult than I initially thought. Do these first and begin by digging down and clearing the area of dirt.

Then place the root ball of the plant in the hole and VERY GENTLY pull the leave through the slit in the boards. They seemed to have survived this treatment in mine and hopefully will continue to thrive.

I can’t wait to taste those delicious little berries and love the way my pallet planter looks in our garden. I’m so glad to now understand why strawberries need to be put in containers like this for reasons like drainage, the way the fruit hangs, the runners, and soil control. It took some figuring out to get the plants into the sides, but I figured it out and hopefully it will work for you too. Thanks for reading about my diy pallet strawberry planter tips.

Have you had success growing strawberries? I’d love to hear your tips or stories! Comment below, or if you are really brave, shoot me an email at charmingimperfect(at)gmail(dot)com!