Container gardening is a really easy way to bring some color up close and personal as well as getting some fresh produce into your diet. One of the things I love about container gardening is that anyone can do it. For seniors, it puts your garden more within reach. Pull up a chair and garden in a variety of containers from a half barrel to an old wagon to a collection of old metal pails. For kids, a larger container can produce both some lovely flowers as well as a small crop of baby carrots or Easter egg radishes.
What you can grow in a container is limited pretty much only by the size of the container and possibly by your imagination. I read about a house warming gift of a Summer Salad Container - a cherry tomato, some basil, parsley and chives, a dwarf cucumber and summer salad greens. Truth be told, by late summer, they won’t be the prettiest, but this arrangement should produce into the fall, provided you’ve planted it in a 24” to 30” container.
Your choices in containers ranges from the practical (think large, black, plastic) to the attractive (think wooden half barrels) to the whimsical (antique pails, bushel baskets, Radio Flyer wagons). No matter what kind of container you choose for veggie gardening, it will need holes in the base or bottom for drainage of excess water.
While we see lots of black plastic containers, and you probably have a few in your yard or garage, bear in mind that the darker colored containers absorb heat. There is a possibility that the root systems of plants in these types of containers could be damaged to heat. If you do opt for the dark colored pots, try painting them a lighter color or shading just the container.
The size of the container and what you plant in it is a consideration. For larger veggies, like tomatoes and eggplants, you should use a five gallon container for each plant. You can grow these plants in 2 or 3 gallon containers, but they will require considerably more attention.
You can use the soil from your garden for your containers. If you do, you should plan on amending it with compost. There are many fine mixes available that are excellent as well. Mixing one part compost to two parts planting mix will aid in fertility. Using a complete organic fertilizer and giving your plants a sip of fish emulsion mixed with water will keep your veggies fed for the whole growing season.
Containers require more frequent watering than plants in the ground. As the season progresses and your plants grow larger, their root system will expand. This will require even more water. Don’t wait until you see your plants wilting. Check your containers daily to determine is more water is needed.
When choosing what to put in your containers, be on the lookout for buzz words like bush, compact and dwarf.
Here are some varieties that you might consider for your container garden:
Tomatoes: Patio, Pixie, Saladette, Tumbling Tom and Small Fry
Leaf Lettuce: Buttercrunch, Bibb and Salad Bowl
Green Beans: Pole beans actually have a higher yield for a smaller area. Blue Lake, Kentucky Wonder and French Dwarf are excellent choices.
Peppers: Red Cherry, Jalapeno, Sweet Banana and Cubanelle
Eggplant: Bambino and Slim Jim
Looking ahead: It’s not too early to think ahead to the fall and winter vegetable garden. Planning should start now. Fall and winter gardening is an old practice that is a great solution for maintaining the fertility of your garden’s soil at peak levels. It also yields crops of delicious veggies at a fraction of the cost of the grocery store.
The climate patters of the lower elevation areas west of the Cascades, right where we are, are very suitable for fall and winter gardening. Careful mulching can ensure the usual winter frosts will not be severe enough to cause significant damage. Further extension of the growing season can be affected with cold frames and tunnels.
The main factor with winter gardening is knowing the average date of the first killing frost in our area. This is usually around the end of October. Plant your winter crops early enough to let them reach full maturity before that first killing frost. The Master Gardeners have loads of helpful information about the timing of first frosts, hardiness of various crops for our area as well as being just the coolest people you’d ever want to chat with about gardening.
Here are some suggestions, with maturity times and planting guidelines:
Beets, Brussels’ sprouts, cabbages, cauliflower, fava beans, carrots, parsnips and globe onions mature in about 90 days. Plant them by mid-July for fall harvest.
Early carrots, leeks, turnips, collards and Swiss chard mature in around 60 days and should be planted by mid-August.
Chives, green onions, radishes, broccoli, leaf lettuces and spinach mature in about 30 days and should be in the ground no later than the first week of September.
You can add ten to fifteen degrees to your fall and winter garden by planting near windbreaks and walls. Take a look at any south facing wall of your home, shed or barn and see if it is ideally situation for utilizing that free solar energy.
Make a cloche out of clear pop bottles or gallon milk jugs. Cover your smaller plants, remove the lids and you have an instant little greenhouse.
If you have the means to have raised beds, the soil in a well made and maintained raised bed can be between 8 and 12 degrees warmer than the same soil in the surrounding garden areas. Raised beds also mean less bending to work in or harvest from.
Mulching serves many purposes in the winter garden. In addition to insulating the plants with a blanket of protection over the root system, it helps deter winter growth of weeks and grasses. Mulch also aids in reducing evaporation of moisture from the soil during dry times as well as preventing erosion from heavier winter rainstorms. Two inches of mulch material is best.
Remember that, with fall and winter veggies, rotation is vital. Don’t plant the same veggie crops in the same location as the previous year or the summer season. The soil will be weakened through continual loss of the same nutrients, but the plants will also lend themselves to insect pests and disease.
If you have a portion of your garden that will be laying idle for a time, you can build up your soil by growing a cover crop. These are fast growing, green plants that can be chopped up, spaded or tilled in and will add green matter that compost into hummus. Alfalfa, various varieties of clover, vetch, oats and lupines are all common cover crops that will benefit your soil.
In closing, try successive plantings of quick growing veggies like leaf lettuce, beets, spinach and radishes. Don’t be afraid to try planting some crops later than recommended. It’s a bit risky, but the reward is definitely worth the risk. Keep a record of what you planted, when and what worked and what didn’t.
Share your successes with your friends and neighbors. And don’t forget to plant a little extra for those in our community that are struggling.
No comments:
Post a Comment