Container Gardening Potpourri
By Gini Cunningham Submitted On May 12, 2015
For the last two years I have attended the Master Gardener Conference in Spokane, Washington. Both years have been fantastic as I learn about pruning, planning planting spots in and around my yard with consideration to the "zones" within my lot, container gardening, and so much more. It is a well-organized event with an excellent variety of topics and expert presenters. I return to my garden each time with ideas galore that I then work to temper so that I do not go overboard. As a result I have happier trees and bushes as my pruning is kinder, gentler, and with more forethought. Flowers glow as I strategically place them in the direct sun, partial sun, or the shade, depending on their growing needs. And my containers sprout salad greens, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, and more. I feel like my thumb is starting to take on a slightly brighter shade of green.
Container gardens are designed for any and every gardener. Whether you just have a deck or patio or you have sprawling acreage, containers are quick, easy, and handy. With my salad bowl garden I can pick fresh greens spring through fall and even into the winter. Cukes grow up their wire surrounding their pot as opposed to cover immense covering stretches of ground, and tomatoes hang in baskets, flowing over the top and then ducking toward earth with their heavy load. All of this is lovely and delicious.
Select containers wisely for the best yields. Porous containers sweat water and so dry very quickly. Enameled pots hold the water and also the heat so direct sunlight for long stretches can fry the roots. I like my plastic pots because they are durable and reusable, and for my purposes as a high desert Nevada planter, they hold the water just right. For my salad bowl I add rich potting soil and then scatter a variety of salad seeds with some green onion mixed in. Be sure to plant very lightly as greens grow fast with what seems like 100% germination. Too many plants crowd each other and so you do not get the leafy salad yield. Sometimes when I have overdone it I thin and transplant young plants into another container or out into the main garden. If I do this on a cool morning or evening and place the plants into warm moist soil, the transplant rate is quite high.
After just a few weeks I can snip my salad, premixed variety with onions already added, rinse, and serve. The next evening I can return, snip and repeat in another section, and salad arrives again. After a couple of days the original salad area has regrown so I can re-snip, repeating this for weeks and months. The same is true with herbs. Whether from seeds or purchased plants, herb containers grow and grow. There are few items tastier than rich, fresh herbs. These are another one not to overplant for crowding reasons as well as how the plants proliferate. Leave them uncut for a day or two and they make take over your deck.
Container tomatoes in hanging baskets simply grow over the sides and produce like mad. I especially like hanging cherry tomatoes since they produce quickly and are at-the-ready to mix with the salad greens. Bigger tomatoes need a trellis for climbing. This keeps the fruit off the ground and convenient for picking. The same works for cucumbers and beans. It is so nice to peak beneath a branch and discover glorious vegetables ready to pick.
I am a container gardening novice but I am an avid believer in the idea. What better way to get children to love fresh vegetables than letting them pick a container in a favorite color, helping them mix in good soil, and then encouraging a cautious sprinkling of seeds. Water, wait, and eat!
Container gardens are designed for any and every gardener. Whether you just have a deck or patio or you have sprawling acreage, containers are quick, easy, and handy. With my salad bowl garden I can pick fresh greens spring through fall and even into the winter. Cukes grow up their wire surrounding their pot as opposed to cover immense covering stretches of ground, and tomatoes hang in baskets, flowing over the top and then ducking toward earth with their heavy load. All of this is lovely and delicious.
Select containers wisely for the best yields. Porous containers sweat water and so dry very quickly. Enameled pots hold the water and also the heat so direct sunlight for long stretches can fry the roots. I like my plastic pots because they are durable and reusable, and for my purposes as a high desert Nevada planter, they hold the water just right. For my salad bowl I add rich potting soil and then scatter a variety of salad seeds with some green onion mixed in. Be sure to plant very lightly as greens grow fast with what seems like 100% germination. Too many plants crowd each other and so you do not get the leafy salad yield. Sometimes when I have overdone it I thin and transplant young plants into another container or out into the main garden. If I do this on a cool morning or evening and place the plants into warm moist soil, the transplant rate is quite high.
After just a few weeks I can snip my salad, premixed variety with onions already added, rinse, and serve. The next evening I can return, snip and repeat in another section, and salad arrives again. After a couple of days the original salad area has regrown so I can re-snip, repeating this for weeks and months. The same is true with herbs. Whether from seeds or purchased plants, herb containers grow and grow. There are few items tastier than rich, fresh herbs. These are another one not to overplant for crowding reasons as well as how the plants proliferate. Leave them uncut for a day or two and they make take over your deck.
Container tomatoes in hanging baskets simply grow over the sides and produce like mad. I especially like hanging cherry tomatoes since they produce quickly and are at-the-ready to mix with the salad greens. Bigger tomatoes need a trellis for climbing. This keeps the fruit off the ground and convenient for picking. The same works for cucumbers and beans. It is so nice to peak beneath a branch and discover glorious vegetables ready to pick.
I am a container gardening novice but I am an avid believer in the idea. What better way to get children to love fresh vegetables than letting them pick a container in a favorite color, helping them mix in good soil, and then encouraging a cautious sprinkling of seeds. Water, wait, and eat!
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