Strawberries like a well drained soil. I created a version of the 5-1-1 last year that was a bit more gritty than the usual 5-1-1 and had pretty good success. I think they would do ok in the 5-1-1 as well. Damon

What city do you live in? Does it get 100+ degrees in summer where you live? If so, nothing will do too well in full sun (6+ hours or full afternoon sun). The sun is too intense and the pot soil just gets too warm. Conversely, if you can put your barrels in morning sun/afternoon shade, you can grow almost anything, assuming your soil, nutrients and water needs are taken care of. Don't give up on your lemon tree. It's hard to keep them looking good outside during winter unless you live in Miami or San Diego. If you think it can hold on for another month, I'd give it a shot of mild liquid fertilizer now. You will still need to address the hot afternoon sun problem though.

Hi Syreeta, One perennial I have in a half barrel that has survived my zone 1B on the deck for three years now has been clematis macropetala 'Blue Bird'. It's right in the middle of the barrel and climbs a metal lattice trellis. Last summer I also tried using hemerocallis 'Stella D'Oro' with mixed results as half of them made it and half of them didn't. The half which made it were right in the middle of the barrel and had alot of snow cover, while the other half were against a shed and filled the barrel but had early spring snowmelt coming off the shed and into the barrel which probably did them in... probably not the best for barrels. Hope that helped alittle, Rob

Greetings: Many years ago when just out of college, I worked at a small greenhouse. We had plants in clay pots and plastic pots (geranium, Dracaena ect). These days, nobody would commercially grow in clay pots. To heavy to ship,move ect. However, it was interesting to see the same crop in clay versus plastic. Those in clay were just a little bigger, healthier looking and definitely seemed better compared to those in the plastic pots. Cooler roots with clay? Better root system with clay? I wonder if the wood whiskey barrels work the same. Cooler roots? I use plastic these days too as the big plastic tubs are way cheaper and more available than wood barrels. The issue came up again when working at a garden center years ago that potted bare-root shrubs into fiber pots. When the pots ran out, we switched to plastic pots. The fiber pots produced a nicer plant sooner. Plastic works but is not always the best container for the plant. Just cheaper, more available and convenient since it does not rot away.