Can You Grow Strawberries in a Plastic Bucket?

The right modifications turn plastic buckets into miniature strawberry gardens.

Container gardening allows greater flexibility, especially if you have limited space or have not established well-drained, loose soil with plenty of organic matter in your yard and garden. Strawberries grow well in containers under the right conditions. Plastic buckets of all types adapt to the needs of strawberry plants with minimal modification. While their attractiveness varies, plastic buckets come in enough different styles, colors and sizes to work with any landscape plan.

Food-grade 5-gallon Buckets

Place two buckets inside each other to create a self-watering container. These buckets can hold a handful of strawberry plants, according to R.J. Ruppenthal, author of "Fresh Food From Small Spaces." Space the plants evenly around the inner perimeter of the bucket and allow the greenery and fruit to drape over the sides.

Use empty soup cans as spacers between the buckets. Fill a small wicker basket with composted soil and turn it upside down in the bottom container. This "soil foot" wicks water from the bottom reservoir through holes in the bottom of the upper container. This water reservoir prevents dehydration and root rot due to under- or overwatering. Add a 1-inch to 2-inch-diameter pipe or bamboo pole through a hole in the upper bucket, down into the lower bucket, to make it easier to fill the lower reservoir, and make one or more holes around the side of the lower bucket for overflow drainage.

Livestock Feed Buckets

Round, oval, square or corner-style livestock feed buckets provide a variety of shapes for your strawberry planters, allowing you to take advantage of unused space on a porch, patio or balcony. Sizes range from 4-quart round buckets to 10-gallon or larger ovals. The round buckets with tapered sides work best alone. Pair the others to create self-watering containers, as you did with the 5-gallon buckets.

Utility Pails

Two-gallon utility pails, such as those used for mopping floors, hold a single strawberry plant with ease. Their smaller size allows you to use macrame basket-holders to hang them from the ceiling to camouflage their less-than-aesthetic appearance. Due to the tapered shape of such buckets, drill drainage holes in their bottoms and place several utility buckets in the bottom half of an under-bed storage container to prevent water leaks.

Kiddie Sand Pails

While many sand pails used by children are too small for optimum strawberry growth, a single plant fits a 2-quart or larger sand pail, as long as you poke drainage holes in the bottom and keep it watered daily. Smaller containers leach essential minerals faster, so fertilize these pails every seven to 10 days with a 20-20-20 solution of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, advises retired Texas Cooperative Extension professor and horticultural specialist Jerry Parsons.

References

• "Fresh Food From Small Spaces"; R.J. Ruppenthal; 2008
• Plant Answers; Strawberry Culture; Jerry Parsons; September 2002