22 Creative Strawberry Planter Ideas

There are few things more delicious than a freshly picked strawberry. Luckily, this sweet, bite-sized fruit is easy to grow even if you don’t have a large garden. Thanks to their shallow root systems, strawberries can thrive in small spaces. Strawberry jars (pictured) and other containers designed specifically for the plant are popular options, but you can also grow strawberries in window boxes, hanging baskets and DIY planters made from common household items.

Strawberries grow best in full sun with consistent moisture. You can either treat them as annuals and plant new ones each spring, or store the dormant plants in an unheated shed or garage during the winter. Day-neutral and everbearing varieties are the best choice for containers because they produce fewer runners than June-bearing types.

Strawberries and rectangular pots go together like peanut butter and jelly. The pot’s shape provides enough real estate to host a happy crop of sweet berries so that you get plenty for picking all season long. Fill pots with a bagged soil mix labeled for container use. This pretty strawberry is known as Berried Treasure White (Fragaria ananassa ‘Summer Breeze Snow’).

Turn tiki torches into strawberry containers. These standing planters offer a creative vertical garden and provide a perfect footing for strawberries. Runners can dangle freely, with berries ripening at just the right height for easy picking. Line the tiki torch cavity with weed cloth or burlap before filling it with soil to help prolong the life of the container. At the end of the growing season, shift strawberry plants into an in-ground bed to enjoy berries for years to come.

Strawberries make good companion plants. In this attractive planter, they serve as the spiller to pineapple sage, licorice plant and sedge grass.

A hanging planter for growing strawberries is ideal because it takes up little space and can be moved in and out of the sun when needed. You can buy these bags inexpensively or DIY them by cutting holes in sturdy plastic bags. Either way, these bags will get heavy when watered, so make sure to hang your strawberry grow bags with strong hooks.

Put that old sandbox to good use and repurpose it for a fun, kid-friendly garden chocked full of strawberries, mint and herbs.

A classic strawberry jar is a pot with pockets. Traditionally, gardeners tuck a few strawberry plants into the top of the pot and let runners root in each pocket. This type of pocketed planter can easily yield enough berries for a pot of jam. You might have to combine pickings for two to three days but you’ll definitely get enough. Give pots plenty of sun and keep the soil consistently moist for best yields.

Here's an easy way to keep the plants at the bottom of the pot sufficiently watered. Drill holes about every two inches in a 3-inch PVC pipe that is a little bit longer than the height of your pot. Before placing the plants in the pot, insert the pipe in the center of the pot. When it comes time to water the pot, simply pour the water into the pipe, water will seep out of the holes in the pipe hydrating the whole pot.

Short on gardening space? Strawberries are your answer. You don't need a big garden to have a bumper crop. Case in point: These suspended wooden planter boxes. They make a stylish addition to a pergola or patio and they can also serve as a privacy screen to keep out the glare of nosy neighbors.

You can enjoy the lip-smacking flavors of homegrown berries even if you only have a balcony for gardening. A deck rail planter provides plenty of space for strawberries to thrive and yield handfuls of yummy fruit. Fill pots with a commercial bagged mix designed for containers and mix in some water-absorbing crystals to help the soil stay moist longer and reduce watering needs.

Strawberries grown in containers don’t need to take up a lot of space in your yard. These trailing plants are perfect for vertical gardens and this DIY tower delivers. Stacked plastic milk crates hold 5-gallon fabric pots, slit on the sides to hold strawberry plants. Cut a hole in the bottom of the top crate to hold a 3-inch PVC pipe that you thread through the top crate. Water the bottom crate by pouring water into the pipe. Stack planted crates on top of an empty third crate to keep berries at an easy-to-pick level.

For the deepest red flowers, look for ‘Ruby Ann’ strawberry, one of the Berri Basket varieties that were developed specifically for container growing. These strawberries thrive in pots, ripening medium size berries. The plants are hardy in Zones 4 to 8, which means you can overwinter plants in the ground or simply shift them from pots to an in-ground planting area or raised bed for continued crops in future.

Vertical gardens, like this Florafelt wall planter with planting pockets, provide sufficient rooting space for strawberries to yield a tasty crop. Florafelt is made from recycled plastic bottles. Plants root into the felt, which absorbs and distributes water and also hosts soil microbes.

Try a new twist on the traditional strawberry jar with a tiered planter. The strawberry tower planter is made from food-grade plastic and offers 20 planting pockets. The design features a flow-through watering system that moves water evenly throughout the planter when you water the top. Use the pot on a patio or deck, or hang it from a porch roof or tree limb. Tower height ranges from roughly 27 to 35 inches.

Create a strawberry tower using a 4" PVC pipe. Start by drilling 2-1/2" holes along the length of the pipe. Drill three rows of holes, offsetting each row from the others. Don’t drill holes in the bottom 12 inches of pipe — you’ll bury this part. Spray paint the pipe in whatever shades you like. Fill the tower with a lightweight container planting mix and water. In a few weeks, savor lip-smacking berries.

Upcycled metal troughs placed on wooden racks keep the strawberries high enough that bunnies won't be able to nibble at them. The heightened growing beds are also easier to tend and won't strain a gardener's back.

New strawberry varieties unfurl flowers in shades of white, pink or red. Choose a growing container that complements the blossom color to give your pot real eye appeal. This strawberry is Berried Treasure Red, which opens red-tinted blooms. Plants sparkle tucked into white containers, like this mini window box. Give strawberries ample sun — six hours is ideal — to ensure a big crop of berries.

Strawberries are versatile plants and yield well even when tucked into smaller pots. If you want to use strawberries in containers as part of your outdoor decor, try adding one plant per 6-inch pot. Group pots together for a stunning outdoor dining centerpiece or place them individually on end tables to stage a living masterpiece. This strawberry is the variety ‘Beltran,’ that was developed specifically for growing in containers and hanging baskets.

Deep pink blossoms fade to form juicy red berries on ‘Toscana’ strawberry. This pretty strawberry plant thrives in containers, opening flowers and ripening berries throughout the growing season. Tuck one or two plants per 6-inch pot, place it in sun, then stand back and watch the show. Slip a plain planting pot into a pretty cachepot, like this metal box, to give your strawberry plants a finished look.

Flowerpots suspended between two metal poles make for a practical as well as an attractive setup. It makes harvesting easy by keeping it at eye level.

Some strawberries are pretty enough to fill roles of edible and ornamental crops, and Berried Treasure Pink definitely fits the bill. Tuck three plants in an 8-inch-wide terra-cotta pot, keep the soil consistently moist and get your berry-picking basket ready. This pretty strawberry plant features pink blossoms and is hardy in Zones 4-9. Slip plants into a planting bed at the end of the growing season to savor luscious berries for years to come.