The Informative Post

Ever since I saw those strawberry towers on Pinterest, I've been wanting to build them.  Today I finally got to.

No, they weren't up at the top of my to-do list like the 700 other things, but I thought they would be fun and I really couldn't wait to see how they turned out.  So I got out all my things and built them.  And here's how it went.

First I gathered the PVC stuff I needed.

To do this project, I needed the 4" PVC drainpipe from the ceiling of the garage-barn, two 4" joiners (that would join lengths of pipe together), two end cappy things with holes in them (like drains) that fit inside the joiner things, two 1 1/2" PVC pipes, and some pipe cement. 

I know....this is all very technical....with a lot of jargon...bear with me.

Then I got my drill out and attached a 2" hole saw to it.  I was pretty pleased with that, so I figured I should use it to drill some holes.

And I did.

I just followed the holes that were already there and made them bigger.  I made 20 holes in each length of pipe, since that's what was there already, and who am I to mess with success?  Besides, I had 40 strawberry plants, so 20 and 20 is good (because that equals 40, you know). 

When the pipes were all drilled, they looked like this:

Pretty nice, right? 

Then I put some cement around the drainer thingys, and inserted them into the pipe-joiner thingys.  When they were stuck together (in 3 seconds), I put some cement around the bottoms of the pipes and inserted them into the other side of the pipe joiner thingys.  Basically creating a long pipe on a base with a screen at the bottom.  The screen is, of course, so the dirt doesn't fall out of the bottom of the pipe, because that would be stupid.

I then took the 1 1/2" pipe and drilled smaller random holes in it all over the place.  This pipe is going to go inside the other pipe to act like a watering system, so the holes  have to be all the way up and down the pipe, so all the plants get watered.  Then I inserted the little pipe into the big pipe like so:

And I was pretty pleased with that, and thought, "What the heck?  Might as well go all the way with this."  So I did.  I took the pipe concoction outside and filled them with a heckofalot of dirt.  All the way to the almost top, making sure the watering pipe was sort of centered in the bigger pipes as I filled them.  Then I poked a bunch of holes in the dirt with my fingers and crammed a strawberry plant into each one.  Then I topped the top off with dirt, and stood back to look at my handiwork.

....and I think it looks like pipes stuffed with a bunch of dead octopuses (octopi?).  But whatever.  They hopefully will not look like that forever.  I did test the watering pipes, and they do work beautifully and the water seems to be reaching all the plants, but time will tell.  Also, I think I still need to mount them to something, as I have nowhere to hang them, but I'm still thinking about that.  Whatever it is will have to be sturdy.  I may just stick them in a flowerpot full of dirt and flowers.  But that might fall down.  Hmmm...it's a work in progress.

Total cost for these beauties?  $15 for both, not counting the potting soil, which you can't count, because it's something that you'd have to use no matter what.  So for $7.50 piece, I have hopefully created some vertical growing space.  The price would be a bit higher if I had to buy the PVC, and I did price it out it out just to see, and I came up with about $8 for 10' of the 4" wide pipe.  So that would be a total of $23 for both, if I had to buy all of it.  Not bad.  Especially considering that they would be 5' tall, and I could have made the holes closer together and shoved more in them.

Interestingly enough, I was looking at vertical gardening ideas after I finished this, and I found these:
 

source

HE-LLO!  They are $40 for a 21" planter.  What a savings on my part!!  But these do come in nifty colors, and mine don't.  I guess I could have spray painted them if I had wanted to--don't think it didn't occur to me.  Even though, I think mine are more elegant.

 

....maybe not.

So we see how this goes.  I think the biggest issue is going to be drying out and possibly heating up and cooking the poor plants, but that just means I'll have to worry about about placement so that doesn't happen.  There will be more on this, I can tell.  What an experiment.

Now that I've kicked this one off the list, I'm feeling all jazzed about vertical growing, and I want to try the raingutter gardens next.  That's another super cheap one, and looks like a neat idea.  Hopefully it works.

Until next time, I leave you with pictures of goatie cuteness.

Maxwell is becoming such a boy, and has learned the joy of butting.  Just gently, but there it is.  For the last few days I have been able to look down and see this:

He's very earnest about it, and does it to anyone.

Till next time!!