Why my strawberry planters didn’t work (and what I’m changing)

I had a plan...

And like many good garden plans… it made perfect sense in my head.

Strawberries in neat little pallet collars. Organized. Productive. Efficient.

Except… it didn’t really work out that way. I just changed my whole garden set up, if you want to read about it, go to, From "forever beds" to pallet collars

My strawberry beds

The original idea

I built a setup using small pallet collars, about 40 × 60 cm.

I stacked them two high and made 8 beds dedicated just to strawberries.

The idea was simple: lots of plants, tidy structure, good harvest.

And to be fair, the plants grow fine. That wasn’t the problem.

The problem

The problem was… I already had strawberries.

A lot of them. At one point I opened the freezer and counted 4 or 5 bags of frozen strawberries from the previous season. That’s when it hit me.

Why am I dedicating some of my best growing space to something I already have too much of?

Treating beds like real estate

This is where my thinking has changed. I’ve started looking at my garden beds like real estate. Not in a “maximize money” way. More like: what gives me the most value for the space I have? Because space is limited. And not all crops are equal. Some crops:

• produce a lot of food

• store well

• are expensive to buy

  
  

Others:

• are nice to have

• but not essential

• and easy to overproduce

  
  

Strawberries, for me, fell into the second category.

So what I’m changing

Instead of 8 tall beds of strawberries, I’m scaling it down.

I’ll keep:

• 4 beds

• only 1 collar high

• about 8 plants total

  
  

That’s more than enough for fresh eating, a bit of freezing and enjoying the season

And honestly, probably still more than we need.

What about the rest of the space?

This is where it gets interesting. I now have around 12 pallet collars freed up.

And instead of filling them randomly, I want to use them for crops that actually matter more in our kitchen. Crops that we use a lot, are worth storing and make a real difference

What I’ll likely plant instead

If I think in terms of “value per bed”, a few crops stand out immediately:

Tomatoes, not even a question. These go straight into sauces, canning, and meals all year.

Onions and garlic, low effort, high value, and something we use almost daily.

Potatoes, very space-efficient in terms of calories and storage. Beans (dry or fresh)Great yield, and they store well if dried. Zucchini or squash, one or two plants can produce a lot of food over time. These are the kinds of crops that actually support the kitchen, not just decorate it.

This wasn’t really about strawberries. It was about how I think about the garden.

Before, I planted what felt nice. Now, I’m starting to plant more intentionally.

Not everything needs to be optimized. But if I’m putting in the work, I want it to count.

Strawberries are still great. I’m not giving them up. I’m just giving them the space they actually deserve. Not more. Because in the end, the goal isn’t to grow everything.

It’s to grow what matters.