Grow Your Own Gutter Strawberries ~ GreenThumb Thursday

Just in case ya'll haven't noticed I'm an up-cycle, trash-to-treasure & shabby-chic'n kinda girl.  And I don't limit myself just to the inside of my home.  That'd be too boring.  When I came across a Pin using gutters for growing lettuce vertically I knew the perfect spot that I'd like to try it.  I showed my hubbie and he told me he had an old gutter behind his shop.  Eureka!  It's plant'n time!

We have a 'Well House' on our property that isn't the most beautiful thing you've ever seen.  And for any city folk that don't know what the heck a well house is, well, it's a little shed built around a well to help keep it from freezing in the winter.  Ours sit's on the side of our front yard.  I have a plan to plant a beautiful flowering vine on the backside of it, and decided to use the side as a vertical strawberry garden.

After the fabulous gutter find the rest of the materials were pretty simple.  Potting soil, strawberries, Styrofoam (I'll explain that in a minute) and a box cutter for easy foam cutting.

My hubbie used a Saw's All to cut the one long gutter into pieces and then screw them on the side of the well house.  We decided it would be fun to place them at altering angles so they could drain one into the other.

The gutters were nice and sturdy but instead of using rock as the drainage material at the bottom I grabbed some sheets of Styrofoam and cut those to fit.  This would allow excess water to drain through the soil but not add additional weight to the gutters.  The foam was about 1/2 inch thick so it was really easy to cut with the box cutter.

Once I got those into place it was time for the strawberry plants.  First I put a layer of soil on top of the Styrofoam, about a couple inches thick.  I spaced the plants 18 inches apart just as the little marker told me to, but I think I might pop in some herbs to grow in-between...

Once I got my plants where I liked them I filled the gutters to the top with the rest of the soil and patted it down with my hands.  Worried about messing up your manicure?  Try this day2day Tip for easy nail clean-up!

Like I mentioned earlier, we placed the gutters at an angle so the excess water could drain into the bottom gutter.  But I didn't want my soil to wash away either.  So I enlisted the kiddo's and wandered around looking for rocks to wedge at the open ends of my gutters.  I could have just cut another piece of foam, but the rock looked better.  I also added a handful of gravel rocks in between the soil and the big rock just to play it safe.  

My hubbie had a big, and I mean BIG pile of sawdust up in his shop from a project he was working on so I helped myself to some.  I sprinkled an even layer on top of the soil to help with evaporation.  This isn't necessary and any other mulching material would work just as well.

My son had a fun idea to put this little weather vane on top of the well house.  I picked it up for free at a yard sale last year and the kiddo's used it on their play house.  Perfect!

Hooray!  I just love it!  And to think I'll have fresh strawberries at my fingertips!  Wait a minute.  That means they'll be at the kiddo's fingertips too.  Hold on why I go threaten them...

Deal.  They can pick all the wild blackberries they want but MOM get's to pick the strawberries and I promised I wouldn't eat them all myself.

Stay tuned for progress on my Gutter Strawberries.  I also need to finish a fun project my daughter and I started last year to keep the birds away from the strawberries.  It's just too cute of an idea not to share!  

Update:  I finished the project with my daughter I was just referring to!  See my post on how to make your own Strawberry Rocks!

What to do with all those strawberries?  Look no further!

25 Strawberry Growing Tips & Delicious Recipes

Got any old gutters laying around?  Use them to plant something delicious!  I'd love to hear what you think, and what you plant  =)