Rocky's Snack Jar

Recently H and I witnessed very peculiar behavior while standing next to a strawberry jar. A very brash Rocky was sniffing out three lowly ripe strawberries I was babying. He picked off one strawberry at a time and retired to his weed patch for a little afternoon snack.

Rocky’s love for this healthy snack inspired me to redo a strawberry jar just for him. I set off to Armstrong and armed myself with armfuls of strawberry plants. The person ringing up my purchase shot me a look of disgust when I told him the strawberries were for my dog. He can suck it. On to the pictorial!

Song: All Systems Go from the album ‘You Were Never My Age’ performed by Stepmothers courtesy of Posh Boy Records (c) & (p) 1981

Materials:
*One clean strawberry jar (Mine has 9 pockets and the top measures 9" in diameter)
*3 PVC pipes, 1" to 1 ½” in diameter (Depends on the opening of the pot)
*Drill and ¼” drill bit
*Strawberry plants (I used 11 strawberry plants)
*Soil

Directions:
1. Measure the top of your strawberry jar to determine how many PVC pipes will fit. If the diameter measures between 7" to 9" you can fit three PVC pipes.
2. Measure depth of jar to determine length of PVC pipes. Cut about an inch under. You don't want the pipe sticking out of the jar.
3. Drill ¼” holes along the length of the pipe. This will allow water to seep to the strawberries planted at the lower part of the jar.
4. Plug one end of the pipe to hold the water.
5. Position PVC pipes and start filling jar with soil.
6. Pause at the edge of each pocket and carefully shove in plants. I shove them from the inside out. It works for me.
7. Keep the soil and plants coming! Be careful not to get soil in the pipes. I usually cover them with my hands while H fills the jar with soil.
8. Plant the top of the jar. I comfortably fit three strawberry plants.
9. Fill the pipes with water and splash some on top y voila!

Why Do I Plant This Way? Thanks for asking. Ever planted in a strawberry jar only to have whatever you planted die a dehydrated death? Yeah me too. The PVC pipes allow me to water the plants at the bottom more efficiently. Watering the pockets individually sucks and is near impossible.