My Favourites
Short on space? No problem. Plant upwards. Editor Jane Wrigglesworth builds a wooden tower for her strawberries.
Even with a small garden patch you can still plant your own fruit and veggies. You just need to get a little creative. My dad and I built this A-frame strawberry tower, which can easily fit in the garden, or on a deck or patio. We also used scrap wood – cut down fence paling that we used for another project.
For this project, I used Daltons Easy Lift Potting Mix, which is lightweight and full of goodies. It’s been designed for those who need to carry a lighter load, containing coco fibre for improved water holding and healthy root growth, plus Permawet wetting agent. That means your containers won’t dry out so quickly. It also contains controlled-release fertiliser for 8 months’ feeding.
You need:
Treated wood
Wire mesh
Screws
Hay or straw
Daltons Easy-Lift potting mix
Saw
Power drill
Staple gun
Wire cutters
Clamps
Method:
1. Cut four lengths of wood to your desired height. My tower is 2m (79 inches) high. The four lengths measure 2m x 35cm x 35cm (79 x 14 x 14 inches) each. The width of the tower at the bottom is 88cm (35 inches). Cut an angle at the top of the four lengths so each pair sits together like an A-frame.
2. Make two A-frames, screwing each pair together at the top.
3. Lay one A-frame on its side and hold a piece of wood where you want the first planting level to go. Mark with a pencil on the underside where to cut it so that the wood follows the angle of the A-frame. Cut, using the pencil marks as a guideline. Cut three more to this size. Repeat for the other levels, cutting four pieces of wood at equal length for each level.
4. Clamp pieces of wood to the frame, then screw in place. Repeat for the other frame. Then stand both A-frames upright and screw in the remaining side pieces.
5. Cut wire mesh to fit each level on your tower, allowing an extra 15-20cm to go beyond the edges. Staple a wire piece at each level then bend up the sides to form a kind of basket.
6. Add hay or straw to cover the bottom and sides (for a more permanent solution, use horticultural fabric instead of hay), then add potting mix. Then plant up. I planted strawberries and herbs, plus a cucumber with the idea of it trailing down.
I have very limited space for veges, so I would literally poke holes in the bag and grow my seedlings out of it. I also need to re-plant my herbs, so I may use it in containers for them instead
Yes please love to win this prize I want to grow veges in buckets like spuds, carrots, lettuce, beetroot, spring onions , mint, parsley , plus some edible flowers 🙂 and repot my other plants in to bigger pots . So this would help me do that Thankyou
Strawberry tower a great idea. It would be good use of water too as the surplus would drip through to the lower levels.
I have reached an age where, although I can still lift la rge bags of mix etc, it is not wise to life heavy weights. Was even trying to think of a way to divide larger bags into easy to handle weights at the retailers. Thank you Dalton’s (always one step ahead) for reading my mind.
Love your project as I am about to start filling in a retaining wall made of 1/2 rounds so I can grow strawberries and this would be perfect
Hi. Thank you for the great ideas you have. Keep up the good work. If i won the bag of compost i would use it to grown my Lettuces .
Hello,love to win this:)
What a great idea in smaller gardens , Love to win the prize and could try a strawberry tower.
Awesome idea 🙂
I made a planter like this when they first came out, the problem was that when there was a heavy rain the potting mix in the top two layers washed out– thank you for coming up with an answer to the problem. now I can hardly wait for it to get warm so I can try your plan out.;)
I have some swan plants that I have grown from seed to go outside and grow even more to help out with the dwindling monarch population.
This is a fantastic idea for many different vegies
it is a must for my small garden.
thankyou for sharing your ideas
Jan
Its so hot and dry in the hawkes bay this year so I have gone more to ferns, succulents and cactii in m y rockery so this is where the potting mix would go. 🙂
This is a fantastic idea
such a great idea 🙂 and the kids would love to help 🙂
This would ideal in the vegie garden, battling with the soil being good enough to grow on and this would be ideal can’t beat amazing home grown vegies 🙂
Love this idea, thanks for sharing 🙂
I love this idea and will be getting out the tools to make one. Thank you.
Hi,
Have a brand new house, no topsoil anywhere and one day will have a patch 6mx6m of lawn and a huge vertical hill behind planted with natives so I would love this mix to repot my ponytail palm into to have some green at the front door.
Absolutely perfect for my wee garden. Think I’ll paint mine too.
Sounds like the perfect filler for flower baskets I am attaching to the verge garden fence.
Cool idea – what a great way to save space in the vege garden.
Fantastic idea, we have a small garden, but have made the most of available space with a variety of pots, raised beds for vegies and strawberries, and a converted old gas bbq for herbs, works a treat! A bag of this soil would be great for our new hanging baskets.
Great idea – even riddled with arthritis I can now “pull my own weight” as it were 🙂 Fingers crossed for a win then 😉
Always needing more potting mix! Crossed fingers! 🙂
What a fantastic idea!! I love it. And the potting mix sounds awesome. I have some heavy hanging baskets that are quite hard to lift so it would be perfect for this.
I love the idea of this potting mix. The ordinary bags are really heavy and it’s difficult to get them from the garden centre. This sounds perfect.
I’d love some Easy Lift. I’d use it for my potted herbs.
What a fantastic idea! Perfect for smaller gardens too. I like the idea of planting herbs as well as strawberries, and a creeping plant also.
my current plants could do with a top up, they have same potting mix from 3 years back
I’d love some Easy Lift for my bright red Morris and James 20 year old pots which I am going to re-plant with geraniums for a cheery “pop” in the garden. More is more 🙂
I’m printing the plans out now to make on a rainy day in winter all ready for next spring. The design looks perfect for my garden and easy to build.
Great idea. Both the strawberry tower and the potting mix.
I am going to ask my hubby to make this. It’s brilliant!
Oh my gosh. Just in time. I’d love to win a bag. Thanks for the opportunity. I’d use it in my hanging baskets I think.
I’ve put in a request for one of these strawberry towers with my husband. Now all I need is the soil!