Vegetable gardening - contained!
In the latest installment of "vegetable gardening for rookies," in The Baltimore Sun, I talk about growing vegetables in containers - the answer for gardeners with not much sun, not much space or too many critters.
In my garden column, Kerry Michaels, who writes about container gardening on About.com, talks about using just about any container -- including reuseable grocery bags -- to grow her vegetables.
Fern Richardson is the voice behind the Life on the Balcony blog and another expert on container gardening.
Here is her advice:
Photo credit: Kerry Michaels
"The great thing about growing vegetables in pots is that you can put them right next to your kitchen or back door, which makes harvesting the vegetables and herbs that you grow super convenient.Growing a kitchen garden in pots allows you to baby your vegetables. You can give each plant the type of fertilizers it likes, the amount of water it wants, the type of soil, and so on.The downside to growing vegetables in pots is that in warm weather, they dry out quickly and the soil can get pretty hot, which some vegetables don't like.In areas that get most of their rain during the prime vegetable growing months, containers can become easily waterlogged and if the showers are particularly intense, the soil can be washed out of the pot all together. Using pebbles as a mulch or putting your pots under the eaves of your home can help prevent that from happening.One trick that I really like is using water soluble fertilizers, like seaweed extract. It is so easy to mix the fertilizer right in your watering can and feed your plants as you water."--Fern
Comments
I love container gardening. It can be tiring though with all the watering and monitoring. It also helps if you're not vacationing for extended periods during the growing season. I think I'll try the plastic recycling bag approach featured. Those bags have a good depth, not to mention the 'handy' handles. Thanks...
You're welc ome!!!
Posted by: ruth | February 4, 2010 8:57 AM
For many years, I only grew veggies in containers. I have grown tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, sugar snap peas, and of course, herbs. For me, it was an easy way to get some homegrown veggies without having to give over a lot of my yard to them.
Posted by: 2 Green Acres | February 4, 2010 9:40 PM
Ruth--It's funny that you mentioned vacations. Every year my husband and I like to leave town in August to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I usually spend the vacation fretting that my plants are wilting back home!
Posted by: Fern @ Life on the Balcony | February 5, 2010 1:02 AM
I'm thinking about doing some container gardening this year. I'd like to do it closer to the house. Otherwise, the deer and other critters get in our garden and destroy it.
Same here. Even my herbs were eaten to the ground when I planted them in the yard...--Susan
Posted by: JJacobsen | February 13, 2010 11:48 AM
I live in a village and work in agriculturing. We produce vegetables in our farms and i try to read everything
about them. This information is very useful for me and i also found another useful guide about vegetables;
http://agricultureguide.org
Posted by: caglar keskin | February 19, 2010 7:37 PM