Many years ago I put several garden beds in the front yard based on commercially available ACQ (Alkaline Copper Quaternary) treated timber about 1250mm x 1250mm x 300mm. The ones on the western side of the front yard were built from two sets of the raised beds and were wicking beds (I redid one recently here) while the eastern ones were single height. I originally tried them out as wicking beds too, but it became obvious in a short time that there was not enough reservoir/growing medium to be practical, a few years later I converted the southern-most one into a Hügelkultur bed.
For most of this time I used it to grow rhubarb and an assortment of other bits and pieces. Over the last 6 months two of the three remaining rhubarb plants have passed away, and I realised we were not making use of the rhubarb anyway, so I went on the lookout for another perennial to plant there.
I redid the bed, adding in some compost, potting mix and a buried pipe waterer then a topping of sugar cane mulch. After reading around I thought I would give strawberries a go, I have had variable success with them in the past. I bought nine strawberry plants, of five different varieties, the idea being to spread the harvest. The varieties I bought are as follows:
- Red Gauntlet x 2
- Tioga x 2
- Melba x 2
- Lush x 2, and
- One lonesome Lowanna.
I planted them out into the bed at the end of August (2025) and prior to planting I removed some of the melaleuca tree branches on the eastern side of the bed to allow more morning light. I also trimmed a few of the surrounding trees to give it better light in the middle of the day.
They have only been in the bed for a bit over a month at this point but are providing a small but regular yield of strawberries already. They are a nice addition to our fruit harvest!
Update
The bed has now been in place for almost four months and we are into summer, which is not making them particularly happy, so on the really hot says (35°C+) they get a covering of shadecloth, supported on plastic pots. It seems to work OK.
