Growing Strawberries on Your Balcony

Strawberries are one of the most rewarding crops for a balcony, because they are naturally shallow-rooted, happy in containers, and even decorative trailing over the edge of a pot. The main decisions are which type to grow and how to fit enough plants into a small footprint.

Which Type to Grow

There are three kinds, and the choice shapes your whole season. June-bearers give one big flush in early summer, ideal if you want a glut for jam but nothing after. Everbearers and day-neutral varieties spread smaller pickings across the whole summer and into autumn, which suits a balcony where you graze a handful at a time. Alpine strawberries are the tiny, intensely aromatic type that tolerate a little shade and self-seed happily in pots.

Containers and Care

Because the roots are shallow, strawberries suit hanging baskets, railing troughs, and stacked vertical planters that pack many plants into little floor space, and growing them up off the ground also keeps slugs away from the fruit. Water consistently, since a pot that swings between bone-dry and soaked gives split or misshapen berries, and feed with a high-potash tomato food once flowering starts to push the fruit rather than leaves.

Keeping Plants Going

Through summer each plant throws out runners, long stems with baby plants on the end. Snip most off to keep the parent fruiting, or peg a few into small pots to raise free replacements, since strawberry plants tire after two or three years and are worth renewing. Tuck straw or a mat under low fruit to keep it clean and off wet compost.

The Bottom Line

Choose everbearers for a steady balcony supply or June-bearers for one big pick, grow them in baskets or a stacked planter to save space, keep the watering even, and renew from runners every couple of years. Few crops give so much from so little room.