Spring Garden Project #3 Strawberry Cages

Tim thought this project up all on his own. For a disinterested non-gardener he does pretty well.



Here are the cages we had on them before. It did keep the deer from mowing them down, but obviously, the open ends were ineffective in keeping nesting rabbits from coming in and undermining the roots. Plus, they're a little homely.

So Tim enlisted the help of neighbor Mike, and they tidied the place up. Mike helped him bend the conduit, then welded the frames together. Tim painstakingly filled and sanded the corners. Then he primed and painted them and spent several days cutting and attaching the wire, carving up both hands and arms in the process. He says he's never doing this ever again.

The old cages served their purpose when the strawberries were in their original spot. They were fastened together so both ends were closed, and they didn't look half bad.

This is my old strawberry/rhubarb/horseradish/asparagus bed.

And this is the new one. There are three sections and I can easily lift them off and set them aside to get to the plants.

This row of strawberries was salvaged from the hard, rooty, shaded, clay soil of the old bed, and the second row was discount plants from a nursery last fall. The plants are easily five times the size they were in the old bed and absolutely loaded with buds and blossoms. If all goes well we should have a bumper crop. These plants are doing so nicely that I spend a lot of time standing there admiring them and scratching my head.