Farming strawberries using the wonder multistorey garden

In the sleepy rural Gatundu, there is an inventor who thought outside the box and created a multistorey garden on a quater acre of land. Daniel Gitau Thairu has managed to fit 270 stacks of multistorey gardens on a quarter acre piece of land.
He started in 2013 and at the time he experimented with cowpeas, spinach and African nightshade. He is currently concentrating on strawberries. The wonder garden stacks are 6 stories high about the height of a normal person at 5 feet from the ground.
To create the stack, he uses HDP polythene paper. A roll is 32 inches or 800 millimeters. Split the roll into 4 parts that are 8 inches wide. Roll the strips to make a circle and then fasten the ends together using bolts. The circles get smaller towards the top layer. The bottom layer starts at 4.5 ft and the top layer is 2 ft.
Lay the 4.5 ft polythene circle upright and fill in soil inside the circle. The polythene acts as a barrier or holder for the soil. The second cirle lies on top of the bottom layer. Its diameter is reduced to 4 inches. Filled with soil. four third layeris creates by reducing the diameter by 4 inches and so on until the top circle is 2 ft in diameter.
A single stack of 6 stories takes up 120 plants of kales compared to 12 plants if it was a normal flat ground garden. For strawberries, the stack of 6 stories can hold 50 plants
Once planted, the top layer gives runners (seedlings) and the lower layers give fruits. A single stack can produce 1kg of strawberries per week. Daniel packs the strawberries in panettes of 250gms which he sells to neighbours and local markets at kshs 150.
He collects the runners and puts them in pots for sale as seedlings. He also does installation of the multistorey gardens for other farmers at kshs. 2500 per stack. He recently installed 440 stacks in Eldoret for a farmer who wants to plant kales, spinach and African nightshade.
The Farming Wonder Strawberry Farm acts as a model farm and Daniel organizes farmer’s training days which he charges kshs. 1500 per day. He also intends to start doing value addition for the strawberries by making jam and strawberry flavoured yoghurt with real strawberry fruits.
His biggest challenge is birds that eat the strawberries and for that he has erected scarecrows to deter the bird menace. He planted the Chandler variety of strawberries in April last year which has a lifespan of 4 years.
Strawberries (Fragaria ananassa) came from Europe and were first grown in the 18th century. The strawberry is a hybrid of two wild strawberry species one from continental America and another one from South America in Chile.
Strawberries are a good source of vitamin C, potassium, manganese, folate (vitamin B9), folic acid and fiber.
They are a good source of antioxidants and nutrients which may be beneficial for heart health and useful in blood sugar control. The fruits may improve heart health, help in lowering blood sugar levels, and help prevent cancer.
Strawberries are often eaten raw but can also be used in a myriad of jams, jellies, and desserts. Another health benefit of strawberries is that they may be useful for preventing type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.