How to make a pyramid bed for strawberries with your own hands, sizes and cultivation
Strawberries (garden strawberries) deservedly enjoy popular love and recognition. But the usual beds, albeit hung with large fruits, no longer surprise anyone. Often summer residents and gardeners think about combining functionality, productivity and decorative plantings. And a spectacular pyramid for growing any varieties of strawberries will be the right choice.
Content
- 1 What is a pyramid bed?
- 2 Advantages and disadvantages of planting strawberries using this method
- 3 The choice of materials and the mechanism for constructing a pyramid with your own hands. Sizes are always important!
- 4 How to plant strawberries in a pyramid garden
- 5 Selection of varieties
- 6 The nuances of strawberry care
What is a pyramid bed?
It is a multi-tiered pyramid-shaped structure made of different materials, be it stone, planks, slate and even old car tires. The base of the future structure is laid out with dense agrofibre or reinforced mesh. And already on the prepared foundation, the tiers of the pyramid are being built. It can be square, rectangular, round and even triangular. It depends on the gardener's imagination.
After installing each block, it is filled with soil, tamped and spilled abundantly several times with water. Only after the soil stops sagging, the next block is placed on the surface. Moreover, each next tier should be less than the previous one by 40-50 centimeters.
Advantages and disadvantages of planting strawberries using this method
Disadvantages:
- A waste of time, materials, physical strength, a large amount of substrate to create a pyramid bed.
- More attention needs to be paid than normal plantings. Strawberries in a pyramid bed require increased subtlety of agricultural technology.
- Water more often than strawberries planted in soil.
- Uneven drying of the soil in tiers.
- In winter, the upper tiers are more exposed to low temperatures and winds.
- For the southern regions, high pyramids are dangerous because of the rapid drying of the soil in summer and burns of berries. Such a bed needs shading.
- There is a danger of soil subsidence or washout.
Benefits:
- Convenience. It is more convenient and more pleasant to collect berries in a pyramid bed. Plus, it is easier to visually detect ripe fruits.
- High decorative properties - it is a real decoration of the site and a subject of admiration for guests and neighbors.
- Good space saving, the ability to get more berries using less space.
- The garden bed can be used to plant strawberries together with other crops. It is bright and useful to combine with spicy herbs or fragrant flowers.
The choice of materials and the mechanism for constructing a pyramid with your own hands. Sizes are always important!
What sizes to choose, first of all, is decided by the gardener himself. It is necessary to take into account the area of the site, the number of tiers in the future pyramid and the materials from which it will be created. Building a pyramid that is too small will be ineffective and ugly. And vice versa - too large dimensions will turn the pyramid into a bulky structure, which is simply difficult to maintain.
It is important that the indent from the edge of the lower tier to the beginning of the next one is, on average, 50 centimeters. Otherwise, the strawberries simply will not have enough space to form a beautiful, powerful bush. The plantings will thicken, and this can cause fungal diseases.
Stone tiers
One of the most beautiful pyramid options. You can create not just a vertical bed, but a real multi-tiered rockery! The construction technology does not differ from the basic one, only more attention needs to be paid to the choice of stones and soil preparation. Otherwise, at the time of watering, the pyramid may slide sideways, unable to withstand the weight of the stones.
It looks insanely decorative if, after planting strawberries, you cover the soil with dense, white agrofibre, on which small pebbles are poured in a small layer. Preferably a different color than the color of those from which the tiers are formed. Then it will be a real vertical rockery.
A bed of tires
A pyramid bed can be created from old car tires. You can, of course, from new ones, but this is for big fans of summer cottages! It's fast, the pyramid is assembled from ready-made blocks - tires. Old tires have their tops cut off. In the shape of the future structure, a hole is dug at half the height of the tire and the first tier is laid out. The soil is filled up - and the whole procedure is repeated again.
But with this option, the impression of artificiality is created, such a pyramid is unlikely to fit into a blooming and harmonious garden plot.
A pyramid of plastic pots. We choose only beautiful ones!
Beautiful plastic or clay pots can also serve as building blocks for a pyramid. They are covered with soil and line up on top of each other, tier by tier. But this design is not stable enough. It is advisable to make a wide base from a sufficient number of pots.
From boards and boxes. Do it, do it
A pyramid made of such natural material as wood will be truly decorative, harmoniously fitting into any landscape. The width of the board is 20-25 centimeters, the length can vary from 1.5 to 2.5 meters. At the preparatory stage, the selected boards must be carefully sanded. Then squares are knocked together or fastened with the help of metal corners and self-tapping screws - pyramid blocks.
Moreover, the length of the boards of each next tier is 50 centimeters shorter than the previous one. Further options for work may be different - effective treatment with alkyd colored varnish (rosewood, cypress, walnut). It is possible to use a transparent glossy acrylic varnish, decorate with decoupage technique or ordinary painting with paint.
You can make a pyramid of wooden boxes by sanding and varnishing them. The construction technology is the same as that of the pyramid made of car tires.
From alucobond panels
A plus of aluminum panels alucobond is the availability of the selection of the desired color. It is important not to choose dark colors so that the garden does not overheat in the summer. The technology is similar to making a pyramid for strawberries from planks. But it will serve as a more durable option.
How to plant strawberries in a pyramid garden
Planting in a pyramidal bed is no different from planting in soil. If the soil is compacted tightly, we loosen it with a spatula. Then we directly plant the seedlings.Seedlings ZKS (with a closed root) in pots - are planted at the same depth at which they grew in a container. Strawberries OKS (with an open root) are planted so that the heart is at the ground level.
Selection of varieties
The most important point when creating vertical beds is the correct choice of varieties. Planting decorative flowering hybrids - Tuscany, Florian, Tarpan, Ruby Ann - will create an exquisite landscape masterpiece. The most beautiful bloom of pink and red, semi-double flowers is unforgettable.
The alternation of strawberries with small-fruited alpine strawberries looks beautiful. When choosing varieties for planting in a pyramid, emphasis should be placed on remontant (neutral daylight hours). Such strawberries will provide an uninterrupted supply of berries until frost. It is advisable to choose plants with medium vigor. For example, the remontant strawberry variety Murano.
The nuances of strawberry care
In order for the strawberry pyramid to meet the expectations, it needs to be regularly looked after. Water, loosen, remove weeds, fertilize, treat diseases and pests.
Watering
The most effective way would be to lay a drip tape in tiers or install sprinklers. But neat watering with a garden hose is also acceptable.
Loosening the soil and weeding strawberries
It is important to loosen regularly so that the soil in the beds does not cake. Weeds need to be dealt with at an early stage, until they enter the active growth phase. And the roots are not tangled with the roots of the strawberry.
Top dressing
Top dressing is no different from dressing strawberries growing in the ground. With the growth of green mass - more nitrogen (N), before flowering and during fruiting - more phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). One important point - in the presence of decorative hybrids, it is necessary to focus on potash fertilizers. This will provide brightness, depth, and abundance of flowering.
Shelter for the winter
Shelter for the winter of such a bed is not difficult when using agrofibre. Especially carefully you need to cover the multi-tiered pyramids, they will primarily be in the winter risk zone. No film, otherwise in the spring the planting procedure will have to be carried out on a new one.
