Garden Lessons
EAT YOUR VEGETABLES: Maryann James posts on vegetable gardening every Tuesday.
It's the middle of August, one of the slowest times of year. The newsroom is quieter, as people go on vacation rotation, and the vegetable garden is yielding little drama as my tomatoes and peppers and herbs quickly and quietly show themselves. With that mood in mind, some gardeners look inward.
Garden Rant's Susan Harris, a first-time container veggie gardener, posts her lessons in her first year of growing. Her biggest lesson:
But like all gardeners, I'm already scheming about what I'll do differently next year and one BIG answer is to grow container-sized plants.
I agree, though most of my plants were container-sized plants (of seeds from the same Renee Susan mentions in her post). My biggest lesson so far: Water counts.
It seems simple, but I have made it complicated. This year, I ignored all suggestions about studying where sunlight hits on your balcony, kind ideas about water management, and gentle warnings about using terra cotta pots.
Next year, I will pay more attention to where the sunlight hits in my gardening area. And if I'm using the same pots, I will invest in mulch. And perhaps even some kind of watering system. (If I can find a way to make my own plant nanny, my cheap butt will be a plant nanny fool.)
Perhaps then my cucumbers will actually flourish, instead of sitting forlornly in a pot with sad blooms and no cukes.
In these dog days of August, what veggie garden lessons are you meditating on?
Photo by WTL Photos @ Flickr
Comments
Next year! I won't overcrowd my Earth Box (which I'll keep and use again), and I plan to have stakes up early for the beans and pepper plants that need them. (I added them too late and they're not doing much good.)
Posted by: Mary | August 18, 2009 12:50 PM
For about the 40th season in a row, I vow that next year I am going to plant further apart. This year, I was not-so-bad with the tomato and pepper plants, but then, a GrandBoy and I were at Poor Boys, shopping for one cucumber plant when he was stunned to learn that watermelons and pumpkins could grow in Granny's backyard, too!
We tucked the pumpkin plant in between the end of a stand of Tiger Lilies at the middle of two rows of tomatoes, where it could just grow in a nice, straight line! (Sure. Instead, it's climbing up the tomato cages with two small pumpkins hangin' out in the air!) We put the watermelon plant at the other end of the garden, instructing it to head on down and meet the pumpkins halfway. (Good luck with that. It's taken off into the lawn and is climbing the fence, all mixed in with the Jasmine. And not a melon in sight.) The cucumbers are surrounding the heirloom tomato plant and the jalapeno, fighting for space with the evil Trumpet Vine and turning out cukes like there was a money prize.
Posted by: Eve | August 18, 2009 2:05 PM
For the water problem on the patio in planters this is a great site that has great gardening supplies. This is one thing that helps to water the planters. Go to:
http://www.gardeners.com/Precision-Drip-Spikes/35-140,default,pd.html.
They have other such things that help with things like pumpkins, cucumbers - use a trellis. Go to:
http://www.gardeners.com/Cucumber-Trellis-Vegetable-Support/37-476,default,pd.html
If you train these kinds of plants to go up they will go up and save some room in the garden for other things. The plants like pumpkins they need to be supported as they get bigger . Nylon stockings are good for that - tie the end to the trellis on both sides of the pumpkin ( like a hammock) the pumpkin in the middle. Give it room to grow.
This is a great place for things to help in the garden.
Hope that these thing help others.
Have a good day.
Dan and Deanna "Marketing Unscrambled"
Posted by: Dan and Deanna | August 19, 2009 12:30 AM