I haven't been able to find anything like this online, but given the fact that the internet, as we once knew it, doesn't really seem to exist anymore - it probably does. Still I thought I would share my strawberry tower design.

I made this from a heat treated pallet that I had attempted to turn into an oyster mushroom farm, but it was the year we were trapped in the heat dome and stuck inside with forest fire smoke and my MECFS was at peak awful. It floundered in the heat, but my friends hauled it to my place when we moved and it was used as a compost bin last year.

Our climate here has changed a lot since I first started gardening. We are now nearly underwater for the winter and a desert without rain for the summer it seems.

Because of that I've been trying to incorporate a moisture battery inside any of our new beds. The cost of soil and compost here have absolutely skyrocketed beyond anything I've ever seen, so we are attempting to compost in place as much as possible. It's a slow process, but it's working and mulching everything with our fallen leaves keeps it from looking too messy.

I started with the existing compost in the bin and secured it a bit with some bark pieces from our firewood, then lined the lower box with cardboard and added some topsoil, kelp, canola meal and rock phosphate.

I have also been incorporating any charcoal from the fireplace into the bin and our other compost to create some biochar for the soil as well as wood ash because we have highly acidic soil around the Salish Sea. The central tower will be lined with burlap when I get some from my friend who roasts coffee.

I am placing a central column of firewood and wood waste surrounded by more topsoil and organic compost materials. It will break down over time, but we will continue to add materials from the top .

I have currently punched holes into the cardboard and planted some Albion strawberries that were growing in a pot with my fig tree. As they grow I will build the tower with the offshoots cutting holes in the galvanized mesh for them. The mesh should be buried and integrated in the base enough to keep the tower in place without too much reinforcement, but possibly a u-bar if I notice leaning. The mesh is secured with UV resistant zap straps for now because it was what I had, but a rust proof wire would be ideal.

The corners of the lower part of the tower will house pollinator friendly flowers and the top will eventually house either chives or a tumbling cherry tomato. I will post updates as it grows.

#gardening #smallSpaceGardening #verticalHugelcuture #PNWGardening

Chàng trai ở Đồng Tháp transforming sân trọ chỉ 3m² thành khu vườn xanh mướt, trồng đầy rau củ và trái cây, đủ ăn quanh năm mà vẫn đẹp như tranh. Từ khoảng sân bê tông trơ trọi, anh tạo nên không gian xanh mát, đầy sức sống giữa nơi trọ nhỏ. Câu chuyện không chỉ truyền cảm hứng sống xanh mà còn chứng minh tình yêu thiên nhiên chẳng cần không gian rộng. 🌿🇻🇳

#UrbanGarden #SmallSpaceGardening #PhongCachSongXanh #GardeningVietnam #RauSachTaiNha #ĐồngTháp #GreenLiving #TinyGarden #TrồngRauTrênS

Last roses of the year

(Lichfield Angel, David Austin Roses)

#Bloomscrolling #SmallSpaceGardening #DavidAustinRoses