Hanging garden of strawberries

I know, it sounds crazy, but I have a hanging strawberry garden. Well, almost. We went to Charleville for New Years Eve to be with my parents and while we were there I saw that mum had planted up her hanging 'pot' with strawberry plants. I liked the idea so much that when I got home I went and bought myself some strawberries to do the same thing here at home. 

The bags we are using are Yates Vertical Garden Bags, and I think mum got them from Bunnings. Each packet contains three bags. I think mum expected me to plant mine with flowers, but given the food crisis we are sure to have after all the flooding here in Queensland, I've decided to use all three of mine to grow food. Bag #1 - Strawberries, #2 - tomatoes, #3 - lettuces (I think - may change my mind on that one).

You will find info on the garden bags at http://www.yates.com.au/products/pots-and-potting-mix/hanging-pots-bags/yates-vertical-garden-bag/ .

How to plant the vertical garden bag:

1. Begin to fill the bag with potting mix.

2. Plant seedlings starting at the bottom of the bag.

3. Add more potting mix as you go.

4. Continue to plant seedlings and add potting mix until the bag is filled to the top.

5. Water generously, making sure the water reaches the bottom. Leave the finished bag lying down or slightly propped up in a sunny or lightly shadded, sheltered spot for a week to ten days. Water as required.

6. When ready, hang bag from a hook, nail or railing.


My mum's strawberries died inside of a week and we think it was because she bought fairly established plants. Because the root mass was too large to squeeze through the small holes, she put the whole plant down into the planter and pushed the leaves out through the hole. When I went to buy my plants, I explained my dilemma to the lady at the nursery, telling her I wanted smaller plants and would wait for her to get some in. She suggested soaking the established plants (which had 3 and 4 plants per pot) in a fish emulsion fertiliser to help reduce tranplantation shock. She also said I should wash all the dirt off the roots (going against everything I know about planting) in the fish emulsion mixture then divide up the plants and plant by pushing the roots through the holes. So far my plants are recovered nicely from the shock of transplant and I think the rain duirng the week when I planted them helped, along with the milder temperatures.

So now, 2 months on, my strawberries are still alive and I hope to soon take a picture worthy of putting here on my blog. At the moment the plants look a little scrawny, but I'm confident that they will bush out and give me an excellent crop of strawberries sometime in the future.

Watch this space!!!

Emily xoxo