QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Can I grow vegetables in containers?
Answer:Yes! In fact, this is a great way to enjoy homegrown vegetables if you live in a small space or the only sun in your yard is on the driveway.
You need a container that holds about five gallons of soil (or a five-gallon bucket of soil). You can grow almost anything in that. Smaller containers work too, but it’s harder to keep them watered.
Like garden designs, containers come in all styles. I like the polycarbonates that look like terra cotta or stone, but are very light weight. But, I’ve used everything from an old bathtub to a whiskey barrel. Be creative! Just be sure to drill drainage holes if your container wasn’t designed for growing plants.
The most important thing to do is invest in a good, loose potting soil. You’ll want to fertilize your container garden every few weeks as well. Mulch the tops to hold moisture in and water when the soil is dry about 2” down.
To save even more space, grow vertically. Maybe you just have a narrow strip in your yard, or you’re on a patio and would like to create privacy and harvest lots of tomatoes in a container. For tomatoes and beans, use a trellis. You can even grow watermelon and cantaloupe on a trellis if you support the fruit. Use a section of pantyhose or onion sacks from the store to create a sling to hold the fruit up. Some people like this technique even in larger gardens to keep the fruit off the ground. Plants like cucumbers, squashes, and even Malabar spinach—the spinach we can grow in summer—look good trailing over a balcony or trained to climb up a metal teepee type of structure. Also, many growers are now presenting hybrids, including the fall plants, like lettuce, designed for compact growth in a container. Ask at your nursery for ideas. And don’t forget to add a few herbs to the mix! Basil, oregano, parsley, rosemary and thyme are great in containers, along with cilantro and dill in the cooler months.
past Questions of the Week →
PLANT OF THE WEEK
Blackfoot Daisy
(Melampodium leucanthum)
 Native to the Hill Country, this low-mounding perennial will grow out of a crack in a rock. It’s a very easy plant to grow if you have sunlight and good drainage. It’s deer resistant, and its white flowers bloom from March through November. Its short stature—about 1 foot tall—makes a good groundcover at hot curb beds and borders, or as an accent in agave and yucca beds. It’s great in a container, too.
It loves a decomposed granite mulch and gritty, or even little soil. If planted in a rich bed and mulched with wood chips, it tends to rot during wet weather. But if you allow really good drainage and provide it with the sun it needs, blackfoot daisy is extremely easy to grow.
past Plants of the Week →
PLANTING TIPS OF THE WEEK
- Take care of your recently planted woody ornamentals.
- Trees, woody vines, and shrubs need extra attention this first year as they get their roots established. Even if they’re considered xeric plants, they need water this first hot season, but don’t overwater and drown them. Build a berm around them—a 3-foot circle of raised soil—sort of like a doughnut around the plants. That way you can put a water hose in, fill it up and give it one good soaking a week, or maybe two good soakings a week depending on the weather and the type of soil you have.
- Prune spring blooming plants to shape them and encourage new growth and bud set for next year.
- Fertilize annuals and perennials every month or so to keep them vigorous.
- Plant hot weather annuals, like celosia, cosmos, zinnias and sunflowers, from seed or transplants.
more Planting Tips →
THIS WEEK'S FEATURE
Create the best lawn and garden yet with Grow Green techniques for any design style.
|
