A NOVEL IDEA

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 340, 28 April 1928, Page 30

A NOVEL IDEA

STRAWBERRY BARRELS

For small gardens which cannot afford the room to cultivate a strawberry patch this novel idea may prove attractive. Splendid crops may be obtained and one of the obvious advantages of this method is that the barrel may be stood in the warmest corner of the garden, producing berries four weeks earlier than usual, and saving the trouble of making the orthodox bed. The barrel should be as large as possible and scraped clean of oil or paint satins. Bore one dozen holes in the botom for drainage, covering the holes with Sin or 6in of broken bricks or small pebbles. To protect the barrel from rotting it should be stood on three bricks and a series of holes sin in diameter should be bored round the sides of the barrel 15in apart. The barrel is then filled with a mixture of good soil, sand, wood-ashes and manure. As the filling proceeds, strong rooted runners should he set in each side hole. When the barrel is filled with soil, more runners may be planted on the top Ift apart. If this method is carried out properly 25 plants may be grown in each barrel.

Growing strawberries in a barrel, a scheme that will commend itself to those whose gardens are of limited area. If the barrel is stood in a warm corner, the plants will fruit earlier than those in an ordinary outdoor bed.