Articles

Most of the gardening articles dad and I write reflect what is currently happening in our own gardens, or in dad’s case- bird watching experiences. Repeat questions are also a trigger for our musings. So here are my thoughts on a question I got A LOT last week.

I don’t have a lot of room- what herbs and vegetables can I grow in a container?

Let’s face it- most of us don’t have acres to work with. But it is very rewarding to walk out your door and be able to pick fresh produce and herbs to spice up (literally!) your meals. Some edibles lend themselves well to container gardening. Continue reading for some basics.

1.Container choice- All containers for outside need drainage holes at the bottom. You can use fancy terra cotta or ceramic, half wooden whiskey barrels or even old 5-gallon buckets as long as they have drainage holes drilled in the bottom.

2.Potting soil- a peat-based soilless potting soil is best. Blends containing coconut coir, bark or peanut hulls helps with drainage.

3. Fertilizer- Most vegetables are fairly heavy feeders. In the ground, plants have access to the microbes that break down the organic materials in the soil, compost and supplemental fertilizer helps. In containers, feeding is more important. Tomatoes and peppers need supplemental calcium to prevent blossom end rot. If the lower leaves are looking yellow, add fertilizer with nitrogen, if you see no blossoms on vegetables, but tons of leafy green growth reduce feeding.

4. Plant selection-herbs are a great choice for containers. Basil, dill, cilantro can be started from seedlings or seed packets. Perennial herbs thyme, rosemary and mint grow well in pots in a sunny location. Likely they will not survive outside over the winter but can live in a basement or garage in a semi-dormant state as long as they are not overwatered.

Leafy vegetable like lettuce, kale and Swiss Chard are also good candidates for pots. Frequent harvest will keep the plant rejuvenated and producing more leaves. These plants will probably “bolt” or flower and go to seed in the heat of summer. Rip them out and replace with herbs or heat-loving vegetables.

Taller vining crops like cucumbers or tomatoes need large containers at least 5 gallon or larger and something for support like a trellis or metal cage. Here is where a little research into shorter or “patio varieties” will really help.

Seeding root crops like carrots, radish, beets or turnips in containers works well. In rocky soil, root vegetables tend to get a bit gnarly. The loose, rock-free soil of pots makes for beautiful carrots.

Grow unusual varieties that are hard to find at the store. Purple cauliflower, white carrots, broccolini, heirloom tomatoes, anything else that tickles your fancy.

I’ve read several articles extolling the virtues of growing cabbage or broccoli in a pot. Those are pretty big plants that only give one main harvest. It seems like a waste of container space, but if you really love fresh broccoli knock yourself out.

A gentleman from Philadelphia stopped in the nursery with a two-page spreadsheet a few weeks ago. He grows over 100 containers of edible herbs, vegetables and flowers. He has an extensive automatic drip watering system and a highly detailed fertilizing regime. He had calendars when one crop was to be ripped out and the rotations planted. Everything was mapped and planned. He must be an engineer. But he was successful growing food eight months of the year in very limited space.

5. Be vigilant. Keep up with the harvest- removing leaves of herbs, and vegetables as they ripen will keep the plants producing. Keep an eye out for insects and disease and pull damaged plants.

6. Enjoy! Either fresh basil and tomatoes, a leafy green salad or bright crunchy cucumber taste that much better when you grew them yourself.

It looks like we’re going to have another wet spring. After last season’s record-breaking rainfall, we’re getting off to a damp start.

This is good for some things (like weeds, grass and newly planted shrubs and trees) but not all plants (almost everything else).

A lot of people, myself included, lost their lavender this winter. Lavender is a Mediterranean plant that thrives in full sun, and well-drained, lean soil. Adding lime helps, but don’t amend the soil with compost or fertilizer. Also, for those with clay, avoid adding sand. This won’t help with drainage, it will just make cement.

There are plants that love the extra moisture. Irises and peonies are starting to bloom, and are lush right now. Salvias, sweet woodruff and spring-blooming phlox are at their peak. Early season primroses looked great.

In the shade garden another moisture lover is astilbe, a ferny-leafed perennial with tall flower spikes in shades of white, pink, purple and red. They are native to Asia and thrive in damp soil. They bloom from June-July depending on their parent species. Many ferns, hostas and ligularia are also looking good.

In the vegetable garden keep an eye on fertility for the tomatoes and peppers. The extra moisture leaches the soil of nitrogen and calcium needed for healthy growth. Lower leaf yellowing is a good indicator of hungry plants. Too much fertilizer will encourage lush foliage at the expense of flowers and fruits. It is a bit of a fine line. Lettuce and spinach harvests are plentiful now, and we’ve been eating like rabbits at our house to keep up with it. Asparagus shoots are nice and tender and most roadside stands have a bumper crop. The strawberries are blooming but we need sunshine to grow sweet June berries. Last year’s mold-plagued crop is uppermost in most farmer’s memories as we have more strings of rainy days.

Many annuals are getting a slow start. Without the sun to warm the soil, many heat-loving plants like coleus, impatiens and begonias are stalling, waiting for warmth to take off. Hanging baskets and patio containers jump-started at the greenhouse will need weekly fertilizing to replace the nutrients the rain is washing away.

On, the bright side, weeds are easier to pull out of damp soil. Plus pulling weeds is good for the soul. Or at least that’s what dad tells me.

Take a look at the calendar and one quickly realizes that it’s racing season again. Given the weather conditions so far this year, most contestants have been reving their engines since March went out like a lamb.

In our little piece of heaven, we’ve only had one freeze and one heavy frost since April 1st Generally disasters and restarts are the name of the game in April. I’m talking about the gardener’s equivalent of NASCAR. The tomato races; the sprint to have the first ripe tomato in the garden.

For success, start with a large plant. If you don’t have one growing on the window sill, I’m sure you can find a giant tomato lurking in a greenhouse near you. Not all models are created equal. Some varieties produce in just under two months while others take almost three to produce ripe tomatoes. Good short season tomatoes are ‘Fourth of July’ or ‘Early Girl’ producing fruit in under 50 days.

You won’t win the first tomato race with a long season variety. In the long run, however, the full season varieties will produce more (and often tastier) tomatoes. My suggestion is that while you are planting the giant(s) also include some longer season plants of normal transplant size. The giants are for speed. The others are for overall production. My favorite heirloom is ‘Mortgage Lifter’ but it’s a slow poke at 80 days.

Tomatoes, although very tender, often go in early with success, but you will need frost protection. For the racers, anything that warms the soil will speed production. That suggestion is not limited to just tomatoes.

As we all know, black objects tend to warm quickly. Black plastic mulch will speed the process. I’ve seen plants do very well if they are placed encircled by an old tire. The latter works very well for the vine crops that require a warm soil temperature to grow successfully.

For frost protection, a big bucket will work. The obvious is that it must be covered when it’s very cold but quickly uncovered as soon as it warms up.

Staking and suckering will also give you a few less tomatoes but will advance the ripening season. The stake should be three or four feet tall and stout enough to hold a load of tomatoes. That’s at least a one by one. I like the cages better if you’re not racing.

By suckering I mean keeping one main stem and removing the side-shoot branch that comes at each leaf node. Be careful not to remove the flower stalks that start there too.

Be modest with fertilizer. Too much nitrogen and water can produce a fruitless tomato jungle. Grandma’s practice of saving the rinse water from the milk cans is good disease control on all but your acid loving plants. Add some calcium to your soil to prevent blossom end rot, a quick and easy way to do this is to add a few antacid tablets (Tums) to your soil at planting. They contain calcium carbonate and a bit of magnesium.

Good luck, and let the races begin.

The front page of Monday’s Wall Street Journal had a funny article “Selfie-Seeking Tourists are Crushing California’s Superbloom”. The authors Nour Malas and Ian Lovett went on to talk about the snare of traffic and chaos caused by tens of thousands of visitors flocking to the small town of Lake Elsinore, CA.

Heavy winter rains in Southern California periodically cause “superblooms” in which native California poppies, Eschscholzia californica, all sprout and bloom at the same time. These gorgeous yellow and orange poppies blanket the hillsides. While technically a perennial, the time required from germination to flower is very short. This speaks to the enduring nature of seeds, that are able to lie dormant in the soil until conditions are right. Correct temperature, adequate moisture and proper soil are all that is required for a seedling to be successful.

After an unrelenting wildfire season, Californians, many in floppy hats or peasant dresses, invaded the small community with cameras, small children and selfie-sticks in tow. Officials complained that many left the trails to roll in the flowers, or take Instagram-worthy pictures and trampled many of the flowers.

Honestly, tourists visiting poppies gives me hope. Even if we are generally disconnected from the physical world around us, sometimes the majesty and simple beauty of nature really speaks to our souls. The throngs of people that visit Winterthur’s March Bank or the sunflower fields of Lancaster County in August and September are filling a need for natural beauty.

In this area we are so lucky to have access to amazing botanical gardens and parks. Longwood boasts an incredible tulip display in May as well as colorful gardens throughout the year. Mt Cuba Center features native plants, and has a wonderful spring show and summer meadow. If butterflies are your thing, Hershey Gardens has a year-round conservatory featuring exotic butterflies. Ledew Gardens in Monkton, MD has a seasonal butterfly house of native butterflies.

Or how about Shenks Ferry Wildflower Preserve? Located in Conestoga and managed by the Lancaster County Conservancy, it is an 85-acre site with 1.7 miles of hiking trails through woodlands rich with trilliums, Virginia bluebells, trout lilies and other spring ephemerals. It is a great place to walk, enjoy nature, watch birds, and even take some selfies. Just stay on the trail.

Last week the Pennsylvanian and Iowan branches of the family converged in Quantico, Virginia to celebrate our nephew’s graduation from the Marine Corps Officer BASIC school. We had a beautiful day to fête this accomplished young man of whom we are all so proud. I, of course, couldn’t help also staring at the flowers.

Quantico is firmly in USDA Zone 7. The daffodils were all in full bloom, not just the ones on the south-facing slopes like at home. The flowering pears were spectacular, the star and saucer magnolias were in their glory and the Yoshino cherries that the DC area is so famous for, almost caused me to get in a car accident. After that my husband figured he better drive.

Here in Lancaster County we are in Zone 6, meaning the coldest temperatures we experience are -10F. Those days are thankfully few and far between, but they do happen. Zone 7 buys you about 10 degrees, staying above the 0F boundary. Folks in Zone 7 are usually about two weeks ahead on the gardening calendar as well. Hence their breath-taking trees. My family in Iowa is in Zone 4, otherwise known as the Frozen Tundra. There they routinely experience winters where the mercury dips to -20F or even negative 30F. That kind of cold just makes me angry. They cannot grow many of the plants we so cherish in spring, ornamental cherries and dogwoods, many hydrangeas and other flowering shrubs that are not bud hardy under those temperatures. Something they can grow well is hostas. Hostas are so successful in my in-law’s yard that they have been seen sprouting from the compost pile when divisions were pitched. Gotta love hostas.

My sister-in-law is driving with our new 2nd Lieutenant down to Pensacola, Florida for flight school. The panhandle of Florida is smack in the middle of Zone 9. Rarely does it even freeze there. She may never go back to Iowa.

But I digress. The purpose of this article was supposed to be about how spring is coming, but it isn’t truly here yet. Every year we see intrepid gardeners who buy their tomatoes the first week of April under heavy caution not to plant them for at least four weeks.

But what can one do in the yard this time of year? Now is a great time for clean-up. Clear away the leaves and debris from last fall and see what is beginning to emerge. Cut down your ornamental grasses and pull out any residual annuals.

If you are gung-ho to start planting, shrubs and perennials overwintered with minimal heat or mail-order bare root should be fine as well as cold-hardy annuals like pansies and calendulas. Early vegetables, artichokes, lettuce, broccoli, cabbage and the like also can go in now- but keep covers handy in case a frost is predicted. A light frost won’t kill hardened off plants, but will often discolor the leaves.

For most annuals and summer vegetables like tomatoes and peppers just wait. The plants will be better cared for at the greenhouse than in your garage.

Spring is springing in Virginia, and it is on its way north, but patience, as my father often reminds me, is a virtue.