Scamardo: Stand up for strawberries with tower gardening

Published 5:05 am Sunday, August 3, 2025

Tower gardening? No, it’s not like Jack’s Beanstalk, but tower gardening can come with many advantages. Tower gardens are great for small spaces, easier to irrigate, better for pest control and better for freeze protection.

You’ll find many other advantages to having a tower garden of your own.

There are a variety of towers available to purchase. I purchased two: one with 30 pockets (each with a 10-inch depth) and one with 42 pockets (each with a 7-inch depth). It is important to know which depth will work best for your plants’ roots. I also purchased a base, with wheels, for each tower so I could move them easier.

I water my plants through a port on the top of the tower, where the water flows down to each layer. (Or you can water each pocket individually.)

Initially, I tried growing lettuce – unsuccessfully – in my towers. Then a friend offered to split some of her strawberry plants with me. I had never grown strawberries, but I thought it would be fun to try them (strawberries are part of the Rosaceae family). I learned that strawberries need at least 8 inches of well-drained soil, so I started them in the tower with the 10-inch pockets (but it turns out they do well in both towers). I filled the top two tiers with well-draining soil, planted 12 strawberry plants, and was off and running.

I have had friends voice their frustrations over growing strawberries because of pests (slugs, fire ants, beetles). Birds like them, too. Growing them in the ground can also cause the fruit that sits directly on the soil to rot. What’s more, it takes a lot of bending to harvest the fruit. So, growing them in a vertical tower was the solution that worked for me.

From the 12 strawberry plantings I planted two years ago, I have nearly 50 plants today from all the “babies” (runners) that the original plants created. I started the plants in the top pockets of the tower, so as they produce runners, they can drop down to the pockets below.

Bear in mind that most varieties of strawberries have an optimum growing temperature of between 70 to 75°F. When it gets too hot (above 90°F), production of the fruit will either stop or slow drastically. The plants themselves can withstand temperatures as low as 7°F. However, the flower buds need to be protected if temperatures drop below freezing (32°F).

By keeping a tower garden with a wheelbase, it is easy to transport it into a protected area (a garage or a covered back porch).  I thankfully haven’t had any trouble with any slugs and snails in my towers, but the birds will occasionally enjoy a strawberry or two.

As you can see, there are many advantages to planting in a vertical tower. Whatever you choose to plant, have fun with it! Happy tower gardening!

— Smith County Master Gardner are volunteer educators certified and coordinated by the Texas A&M AgriLife extension office.