How to Winterize Your GreenStalk Strawberry Garden: 5 Tips

You grew a gorgeous crop of strawberries this year in your greenstalk planter, but what now? How can you winterize your planter and keep those roots safe for next year? Gardening expert Melissa Strauss has some great tips for you!

Written by Melissa Strauss Horticulture review by Sarah Jay Last updated: November 1, 2024 | 4 min read

A blue, tiered vertical planter holding lush plants with broad, serrated leaves and small, rounded fruits hanging from thin, delicate stems, surrounded by a vibrant green garden.

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The Greenstalk vertical planter is a wonderful solution for planting strawberries on a small footprint. If you have 2 sq ft. of space to spare, you can grow tons of delicious berries in your Greenstalk. It’s almost too easy! With features to make it easy to move, water, and tend to, it doesn’t get much easier.

You may use your planter to grow a beautiful cold-weather vegetable garden when winter rolls around. In this case, you’ll have to remove your strawberry roots. If not, you’ll want to take some steps to overwinter your strawberry plants for next season. Strawberries are hardy perennials in Zones 4-9, so they will overwinter easily. It’s not a bad idea to take some protective precautions, though.

Winterizing your Greenstalk is not complicated or labor-intensive. You can do it as you would with any other potted plant, but on a larger scale. Here are some easy tips to help you seamlessly transition your planter from fall to spring.

GreenStalk 5 Tier Vertical Planter

The GreenStalk Original is a patented, soil-based vertical garden made completely in East Tennessee from high quality, food-grade, UV-resistant, BPA, BPS & PVC-free plastic. It comes with a 5-year warranty on both the color and functionality of the planter.

Buy at Epic Gardening

Cut Back Your Plants and Top With Straw

A single plant with thick, veined leaves and white-petaled flowers growing in dry, straw-like soil, displaying small green fruits at the base. — This allows plenty of room for new healthy growth in the spring.

Preparing your plants for the season ahead is important before you deal with your planter. Before anything else, determine whether you need to thin out your strawberries. They multiply over time, and you don’t want them crowding each other. Thinning them will mean more and higher-quality fruit in the coming spring season.

Fall is the right time to do this task. Wait until after harvesting, of course. It’s best to do it before your first frost, preferably. First, cut back the tops of the plants to about two to three inches tall. This allows plenty of room for new healthy growth in the spring. That old foliage will die back after a frost, anyway.

After you’ve trimmed away all the excess foliage, gently loosen the dirt and remove the crowns. Ideally, you want to remove the oldest crowns. These are the largest and often have brown foliage. Re-plant a new crown in each of your planter’s pockets. If you need to refresh the soil you can do so now, or top dress with some compost.

Once you’ve tucked your plants safely away, back in their pockets, cover them with a thick layer of straw for insulation. This helps retain moisture in the soil and prevents diseases and insect damage.

Move Closer to Shelter

A tall, multi-pocketed brown planter filled with healthy, green foliage on a patio next to a raised garden bed, with large leaves and a variety of small, unripe fruits peeking out from the pockets. — Moving your Greenstalk closer to the house or another structure is a good way to protect it.

You may want to relocate your Greenstalk to protect it depending on its present location. Many plants need a freeze-and-thaw cycle to germinate, but strawberries do not. This means that they don’t technically have to stay outdoors for the winter. But that doesn’t mean you absolutely must bring it inside.

Moving your greenstalk closer to the house or another structure is a good way to protect it. This doesn’t make much difference in terms of the soil freezing, but it does protect it from cold winds. Freezing winds are damaging to new foliage, so if your strawberries sprout before that last spring frost date, you don’t want them in the path of freezing winds.

A plant mover base is a good idea, as it allows you to move your entire planter without taking it apart. A full greenstalk is heavy! A base that has wheels attached will make this a smooth transition.

Use a Frost Protection Cover

A circular garden bed surrounded by wire fencing, where the plants are completely covered with a white frost cloth, protecting them amidst the slightly overgrown ground cover. — While this won’t prevent your soil from freezing, it will offer new foliage some protection in the spring.

If you live in a cold climate where the last frost of spring commonly comes late, a frost protection cover is a great investment. While this won’t prevent your soil from freezing, it will offer new foliage some protection in the spring.

Wait until just before the freeze arrives to employ a frost protection cover so that you can continue to water until that time. Then, just slip the cover over the entire Greenstalk and zip it up. If your strawberries peek out early, they won’t die by a late frost or freezing winds.

Continue Watering Until a Hard Freeze

Large, waxy green leaves with fine serrated edges glisten with water droplets as a gentle misting spray rains down, the surrounding leaves creating a lush, dense undergrowth. — Though they do need some moisture, the roots won’t absorb much in the winter.

It’s important to keep watering your strawberries right up until the soil freezes. In warmer climates, this may not ever happen, in which case, even though your plants will fall dormant, the roots will still need moisture.

Be careful to avoid overwatering. Overwatering is a primary cause of death for many plants, especially over the winter. Though they do need some moisture, the roots won’t absorb much in the winter. This, paired with the slower evaporation because of a shortage of heat and sunlight, can leave your roots waterlogged.

Waterlogged soil is a fast track to root rot and crown rot. You want to avoid this, so just moisten the soil, and don’t do it often. Just enough that it never completely dries out.

If you’re leaving your planter outdoors for the winter, the roots will need some protection when the soil freezes. Dry roots are brittle and more vulnerable to freezing temperatures. Moisture before freezing will help keep those root insulated.

If you intend to bring your planter inside, which we will get to, you’ll want to maintain this moisture throughout the winter. If you’re leaving it outdoors for the duration, only water until the soil freezes. If it thaws mid-winter, make sure they soil is moist again before it freezes back up.

Move It Indoors

A person carefully adjusts the plants in a cream-colored vertical planter by a window, with vibrant leaves spilling out from the container’s multiple pockets and small, unripe fruits starting to form. — A space that stays slightly warmer than the outdoors is best.

Strawberries will only grow as annuals in Zones 2 and 3. However, you can keep them alive for the winter if you give them extra protection from the cold. It’s a good idea to do this in Zone 4, also, just in case you have an extra cold snap.

Even in warmer climates, there is no harm in relocating your planter if you have a good spot for it. Ideal spots for winter storage include a garage, or enclosed shed. A space that stays slightly warmer than the outdoors is best.

If you have a greenhouse, you can pop it in there also. This will mean earlier growth and earlier fruit!