Strawberry wicking buckets

I’ve planted the first of my strawberry buckets. The three existing strawberry plants that produced this season have done so well that I just had to have more. So when they started producing runners, I pegged each runner down into a separate small pot and waited till the new root system was established:

After only 2-3 weeks I was able to cut the new plants away from their parent. I was amazed at how quickly the new root system established. Keeping them attached to the parent plant ensures they have enough water and nutrient to feed the new root system and I suppose that accelerates the process:

I bought some cheap plastic buckets and drilled a drainage hole about a third of the way up from the bottom:

This ensures that the soil in the bottom of the bucket will stay saturated and water will wick up into the root zone above. Water-loving roots will grow into the saturated soil and always keep the plant hydrated. I filled the buckets with chook poo compost* and planted the new plants:

These will be the first of many. The next batch of runners is pegged down and waiting. Next season I’m hoping for enough strawberries to make some strawberry jam.

*Chook poo compost is made in the compost tumbler:

The floor of the chook coop under the night-roosting perches is covered with a mixture of wood shavings and mulched bracken. Every 2-3 days I rake this out (and the poo within), put it all in the tumbler and give it a few turns each day whenever I’m passing. It breaks down into a friable, rich compost which the plants love.