Fruit
Why We Grow Our Strawberries in a Raised Bed
Most of our vegetables grow directly in the ground, but our strawberries are the exception. They have one raised bed all to themselves. It started as a practical way to keep a perennial crop separate from the part of the garden we till every year, but it has worked so well that we've kept it that way. The strawberries stay put, they're easy to care for, and every spring we get to watch the bed come back to life.
Why the strawberries get their own bed
Our main garden gets tilled before planting, and later we use a smaller tiller between the rows for weed control. Strawberries are perennial, so we wanted a place where their roots could stay undisturbed from one season to the next.
The raised bed gives them that permanent home. It also makes it easier to keep an eye on weeds, run a soaker hose through the bed, and reach the plants when it's time to pick.
Little hands are good helpers
Our strawberry bed has a soaker hose just like the main garden, and that handles most of the regular watering. But there are plenty of days when the hose wand comes out too.
Watering strawberries happens to be one garden job our youngest is always happy to help with. Sometimes the plants get watered. Sometimes he does too.
Those little jobs are part of why we like having the kids in the garden with us. There's always something they can help with, even if it takes a little longer — or uses a little more water — than it would if we did it ourselves.
The reason we keep growing them
This is the part that makes one little raised bed feel pretty impressive. When the plants really get going, we can bring in a surprising amount of fruit from that one space.
What started as a practical way to keep strawberries out of the main garden has become one of our favorite things to grow. The plants come back, the kids can help care for them, and eventually all those little berries start making their way into the kitchen.
For us, that's reason enough to keep giving strawberries their own bed.
