Pyramid for strawberries: how to make a bed with your own hands, sizes and cultivation

Strawberry (garden strawberry) deservedly enjoys people's love and recognition. But the usual beds, albeit hung with large fruits, no longer surprise anyone. Often summer residents and gardeners think about combining functionality, productivity and decorativeness of plantings. And a spectacular pyramid for growing any variety of strawberries will be the right choice.

What is a pyramid bed?

This is a multi-tiered building in the form of a pyramid of different materials, whether it be stone, boards, slate and even old car tires.The base of the future structure is laid out with dense agrofiber or reinforced mesh. And already on the prepared foundation, the tiers of the pyramid are being built. It can be square, rectangular, round and even triangular. It depends on the gardener's imagination.

After the installation of each block, it is filled with soil, tamped and spilled with plenty of water several times. Only after the soil stops sagging is the next block placed on the surface. Moreover, each next tier should be 40-50 centimeters less than the previous one.

Advantages and disadvantages of planting strawberries in this way

Flaws:

1. Waste of time, materials, physical strength, a large amount of substrate to create a pyramid-bed.
2. You need to pay more attention than normal landings. Strawberries in a pyramid-bed require increased subtlety of agricultural technology.
3. Must be watered more often than strawberries planted in soil.
4. Uneven drying of the soil by tiers.
5. In winter, the upper tiers are more susceptible to low temperatures and winds.
6. For the southern regions, high pyramids are dangerous due to the rapid drying of the soil in summer and burns of berries. Such a bed needs shading.
7. There is a risk of subsidence or washout.

Benefits:

1. Convenience. It is more convenient and pleasant to collect berries on a pyramid-bed. Plus, it is easier to visually detect ripe fruits.
2. High decorative properties - is a real decoration of the site and the subject of admiration of guests and neighbors.
3. Good space saver, able to get more berries using less space.
4. The bed can be used for planting strawberries together with other crops. It is bright and useful to combine with spicy herbs or fragrant flowers.

The choice of materials and the mechanism for constructing a pyramid with your own hands. Dimensions are always important!

What sizes to choose, first of all, the gardener decides. It is necessary to take into account the area of the site, the number of tiers in the future pyramid and the materials from which it will be created. Building too small a pyramid will be inefficient and ugly. And vice versa - too large dimensions will turn the pyramid into a bulky structure, which is simply difficult to care for.

It is important that the indent from the edge of the lower tier to the beginning of the next one be, on average, 50 centimeters. Otherwise, strawberries simply do not have enough space to form a beautiful, powerful bush. Plantings will be thickened, and this may cause fungal diseases.

Stone tiers

One of the most beautiful variants of the pyramids. You can create not just a vertical bed, but a real multi-tiered rockery! The construction technology does not differ from the basic one, only more attention should be paid to the choice of stones and soil preparation.Otherwise, at the time of watering, the pyramid may slide sideways, unable to bear the weight of the stones.

It looks insanely decorative if, after planting the strawberries, cover the soil with a dense, white agrofibre, on which small pebbles are poured in a small layer. Preferably a different color than the color of those from which the tiers are formed. Then it will be a real vertical rockery.

Bed of tires

Pyramid garden can be created from old car tires. You can, of course, from the new ones, but this is for big lovers of summer cottages! It's fast, the pyramid is assembled from ready-made blocks - tires. Old tires cut off the top. According to the shape of the future structure, a hole is dug out at half the height of the tire and the first tier is laid out. The soil is filled up - and the whole procedure is repeated again.

But this option gives the impression of artificiality, such a pyramid is unlikely to fit into a flowering and harmonious garden plot.

Pyramid of plastic pots. We choose only beautiful ones!

Beautiful plastic or clay pots can also serve as building material for a pyramid. They are covered with soil and lined up on top of each other, tier by tier. But this design is not stable enough. It is advisable to make a wide base from a sufficient number of pots.

From boards and boxes. Do it, do it

Truly decorative, harmoniously fitting into any landscape will be a pyramid made of such natural material as wood. The width of the board is 20-25 centimeters, the length can vary from 1.5 to 2.5 meters. At the preparatory stage, the selected boards must be carefully sanded. Then squares are knocked together or fastened with metal corners and self-tapping screws - pyramid blocks.

Moreover, the length of the boards of each next tier is 50 centimeters shorter than the previous one.Further options for work may be different - spectacular processing with alkyd colored varnish (rosewood, cypress, walnut). It is possible to use a transparent glossy acrylic varnish, decorating with decoupage technique or regular painting with paint.

You can make a pyramid out of wooden boxes by sanding and varnishing them. The construction technology is the same as that of the tire pyramid.

From alucobond panels

Plus aluminum panels alucobond - the availability of the selection of the desired color. It is important not to choose dark colors so that the bed does not overheat in summer. The technology is similar to creating a pyramid for strawberries from boards. But it will serve as a more durable option.

How to plant strawberries in a pyramid garden

Planting in a pyramidal bed is no different from planting in soil. If the soil is tightly packed, loosen with a spatula. Then we plant the seedlings directly.ZKS seedlings (with a closed root) in pots are planted at the same depth at which they grew in a container. Strawberries OKS (with open root) are planted so that the heart is at ground level.

Choice of varieties

The most important thing when creating vertical beds is the right choice of varieties. Planting decorative flowering hybrids - Tuscany, Florian, Tarpan, Ruby Ann - will create an exquisite landscape masterpiece. The most beautiful bloom of pink and red, semi-double flowers is unforgettable.

The alternation of strawberries with small-fruited alpine strawberries looks beautiful. When choosing varieties for planting in a pyramid, emphasis should be placed on remontant (neutral daylight hours). Such strawberries will ensure an uninterrupted supply of berries until frost. It is advisable to choose plants with medium vigor. For example, the remontant variety of strawberry Murano.

Nuances of strawberry care

In order for the strawberry pyramid to live up to its expectations, it must be regularly looked after. Water, loosen, remove weeds, fertilize, treat against diseases and pests.

Irrigation

The most effective way would be to lay drip irrigation tape in tiers or install sprinklers. But careful watering with a garden hose is also acceptable.

Loosening the soil and weeding strawberries

It is important to loosen regularly so that the earth in the beds does not cake. Weeds must be de alt with at the initial stage, until they have entered the active growth phase. And the roots are not tangled with strawberry roots.

Feeding

Feeding is no different from dressing strawberries growing in the ground. With an increase in green mass - more nitrogen (N), before flowering and during fruiting - more phosphorus (P) and potassium (K).One important point - in the presence of decorative hybrids, it is necessary to focus on potash fertilizers. This will provide brightness, depth, and profusion of flowering.

Shelter for the winter

Shelter for the winter of such a bed is not difficult when using agrofibre. Especially carefully it is necessary to cover multi-tiered pyramids, they will first of all be in the winter risk zone. No film, otherwise in the spring the landing procedure will have to be carried out again.

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