Years ago, I build a oval shaped, tiered strawberry bed out of dry-stacked rocks.
Not necessarily recommending this design, just including it for
variety's sake:
A tiered strawberry bed has no more planting surface than the same
dimensions perfectly flat. True, the plants can hang over a bit
giving a bit more foliage area, but the actual planting area doesn't
change. The advantage, as see it, besides the affective, is that it
is easier to each the plants in an elevated center than the center of
a flat bed.
I've done the tiered beds and the one single disadvantage was water.
The top tier could get bone dry in a hurry. My design solution was
to keep all the plants only slightly raised (or rather the paths
slightly depressed) and make sure there was a good place to squat
within easy reach of all the plants.
The current strawberry bed is 16'x6 1/2' and in the center of the
bed are three great flat stones (about 28" square) level with the
growing medium. The berry grower need only reach 18" into the bed
from the side and then step 3' onto one of the stones and every other
plant is within 18".
This winter I've expaned the patch by laying a 2' stone path all
around it and then putting in a 2' strawberry bed all around that.
On the very outside perimeter of the whole thing (now about 24' x
14') I'm puttin in a wire fence augmented at the bottom with poultry
wire. Over the top go light frames strung with black fishing line
through which birds just will not go and yet the frames are easily
set aside when one want's to attend the patch.
In good years that's way too many strawberries. but this is offset
somewhat by the fact that the whole thing is planted in only day
neutral plants which only set on a few berries at a time but produce
continually until frost bits back the blossoms. This year that was
the second week in November. _______________________________________________ Homestead list and
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