Strawberry Pyramids

When we first started wanting to grow more of our own fruit, strawberries were top on our list. I remembered the strawberry patch fondly from my childhood but knew the traditional patch would not work in our small urban yard. Through research, I found the strawberry pyramid. It allows you to have 50 plants within a 6-foot diameter section of your yard. In addition, it looks pretty (strawberries have beautiful white blooms in the spring). You can make your own tiers or buy prefabbed ones from seed catalogs. We did the prefabbed route because the pyramid and strawberries came all together in a package and were about the same price as buying materials and strawberries separate. Ours are circular but you can also use other shapes.

When considering bed placement remember that strawberries reproduce by sending out daughters so they can easily spread. We have ours placed where they can be easily trimmed.

Sections are laid in pyramid fashion on top of each other: layer 1=6 ft diameter; layer 2=4 ft; layer 3=2ft. 26 plants go in bottom tier, 17 in middle tier and 7 in top tier. The roots should all be planted facing towards the center of the pyramid.

The best time to plant strawberries is in the spring. After planting, water regularly until established. Strawberries, like other garden plants, should have about an inch of water a week.

Now, here is the hard part. To allow them to get established, pinch off blooms for a couple of months. This allows the plant to get established before doing the hard work of producing fruit. It will be worth it in the end. We are picking about 1-2 quarts a day off of our first pyramid we established last summer.

We have loved having fresh strawberries with our meals. In addition, we freeze them, make jam and strawberry shortcake with them.