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     Mixed containers of annuals are a great way to brighten up your front porch, deck, patio, or pool area. They are a great way to garden in a small space.

When planning a mixed container, there are a few key items to keep in mind.

1. Know your conditions. Like any garden, be aware of the sun/shade and wind exposure for your pots. Put plants with similar requirements together. Full-sun loving pentas, lantana, petunias, won’t do well on a shady porch. Stick to begonias, New Guinea impatiens, torenia, or coleus. Likewise, impatiens, and fuchsia will not be happy on a deck in the full sun.

2. Growth habit. Plant aggressive sweet potato vines with similarly aggressive petunias, or ‘Snow Princess’ lobularia. Well-behaved pentas, pairs nicely with centradenia or callibrachoa.

3. Design. The phrase “thriller, filler and spiller” came into existence several years ago and is a good place to start. Use something tall, a “thriller” for the center or back of the container like an ornamental grass, verbena bonariensis, guara, or coleus. Alternate a few “fillers”, upright, flowering plants or those with ornamental foliage like a double begonia, geranium, pentas, angelonia, bidens, zinnia, or salvia with “spillers”. A “spiller” is a trailer to cascade over the edge of the pot like vinca vine, callibrachoa, petunias, sweet potato vine, alternanthera, bacopa or torenia.  (Photo courtesy of Proven Winners- "thriller" grass with complementary green and purple foliage)

4. Color. Monochromatic baskets of all white flowers of different textures, or varying shades of purple, etc can be very effective, but I have found the most eye-catching containers have some contrast. Colors opposite each other on the color wheel, are called complementary colors. For example, orange impatiens and blue lobelia are a nice combination. Purple verbena mixed with yellow bidens will really stand out.

5. Think about edibles. Mix herbs or vegetables with flowers. Red leaf lettuce planted with white flowers like angelonia makes a nice combination. Red and yellow-stemed Swiss chard planted with celosia and purple millet is a real eye-catcher. Parsley or dill combined with daisies or pentas, will keep you and the butterflies happy.

6. Fertilizer. Unlike in the ground, your plants won’t be getting nutrients from the soil unless you fertilize them. Time-release granules as well as a mild liquid feed of a balanced fertilizer given every other watering should keep them blooming and healthy throughout the summer.

7. Don’t be afraid to give things a haircut. If your plants are out of balance, or looking peaked in the heat of the summer, a little pruning will rejuvenate most things.

Try something new this summer with your containers. Have a little fun, these small gardens can are a great place to experiment.

People always ask “What’s new?” In the plant world it seems these days, quite a lot. Every summer we visit the Penn State Landisville field trials, where plant breeders from around the world showcase their newest and best. It helps growers, and consumers get through the hype in gardening magazines and see what really is great.

From last summer’s trials and our own experience so far, here are some of my favorite new things.

At the top of my short list is ‘Fireworks’ gomphrena. A bigger, more outrageous cousin to the small globe amaranth that most of us have dried at some point, this two-three foot tall mounding plant is topped with large deep pink balls, with yellow tips. In our flower beds last summer it flowered until frost and was a real standout. It takes full sun, and is lovely paired with yellow coreopsis, zinnias or bidens.

Another great new group of plants are the ‘Sunpatiens’ New Guineas. If you like the look of New Guineas, but have too much sun, these are for you. They come in a wide range of colors, and perform well in even the hottest spots. In shade, they’ll be a bit too tall.

The new black petunias, ‘Black Velvet’ and ‘Phantom’ are just as eyecatching as they appear in the gardening magazines. They tend to be a little more mounding than upright, but are great for containers. Be sure to deadhead these flowers, as they do not self-clean.

I love the new ‘Zahara’ zinnia series. I’m a big fan of zinnias to begin with, but I really like these. Mildew resistant, wide range of colors, and even bigger flowers than the ‘Profusion’ series, a similar group.

The threadleaf euphorbias have been on the market only five short years, but the new introduction of ‘Breathless Blush’ adds a red-leaved, pink flowering variety to the group. They are great paired with geraniums, petunias, anything with a larger flower where their airyness adds a nice texture.

Coleus are always favorites for the shade, but a lot of new breeding has made them more sun tolerant. Great new trailing varieties like ‘Burgundy Wedding Train’ are nice for hanging baskets or pots.

Ornamental grasses also make a nice backdrop for containers or beds. The new annual red fountain grass ‘Fireworks’ is a pink variegated form that really stands out. I also love the millets. ‘Jade Princess’, ‘Purple Majesty’ and ‘Purple Baron’ are all really striking if you can get past the fact that they resemble corn plants a bit.

The breeders have been busy, and we, the gardeners, are happy to benefit from something new to add to our gardens.

     My guess is that there is hardly a person out there who hasn’t already had an unpleasant experience with the recently arrived brown stink bug. They were late arrivals to my garden and hardly noticed, but sure made their presence known as they outperformed the ladybugs as an unwelcome house guest.
      They arrived in Allentown, Pennsylvania as stowaways in a container shipment from eastern Asia. They have a history of being an invasive, damaging insect in China and Korea. Being strong flyers and prolific breeders, there are already reports from as far away as Virginia of their presence.
      Borrowing, most likely, on Asian data, it is suggested that soft fruits like tomatoes, peaches, plums, strawberries and the like will be damaged by their piercing mouth parts. Peppers were also on one list I saw. While proof reading this my wife added that she saw the most damage on lima beans in our garden. Stings on the pods caused hard black spots on the beans rendering them unusable.
      Their arrival sparked a bit of remembering history in me. Dad talked about the spread of the Japanese beetles in the late 1930’s, after they made a similar arrival in Philadelphia. He said that for a season or two they ravaged the crops on the front edge of their spread. After that the damage receded.
      My hunch is that it will take a rather strong whack to control them with chemicals. What works and what doesn’t is a story yet to be written. The problem with strong insecticides is that they kill the good as well as the bad insects, often causing more problems than they solve.
      Ironically, most of our native stinkbugs are beneficial as they consume great quantities of insect pests.
Another approach quickly working its way to the marketplace is the use of a pheromone trap. Pheromones are the sex attracting odors the insects release. Usually it is the male that lands in the trap. In short, think Japanese beetle traps and you will be thinking correctly.
      Pheromone sticky cards have been used for years in commercial orchards and greenhouses. The idea here is to catch a sample of the insects present, which lets you gauge what insect populations you are dealing with.
      With low populations, you let the sprayer in the shed. When one insect’s numbers rise, you target that particular insect. This approach let me cut my chemical usage in half during the 1980ies when I had the large orchard. In time, we may get there with brown stinkbug control.
      One entomologist I read suggests that the best way to use stink bug pheromone traps is just like Japanese beetle traps. Convince your neighbor to get and use them, and all the bad guys will head to their garden, and you have no problems.
      Bottom line is that the jury is still out on this one. Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst. Time will tell.

The year was 1949. Maybe it was 48 or maybe 50. My memory is a bit hazy as then I could still count my birthdays on the fingers of one hand. Maybe I needed one finger on the other hand. Dad had a seven acre field of Rutgers tomatoes. Maybe it was a bit larger. I remember exactly where they were planted.

We got 10 or 15 baskets the first picking. Then the blight hit. End of harvest. What I remember was how quick and utter was the destruction of what had been a beautiful field of tomatoes.

The next year we had a sprayer. Dad continued to grow significant acres of tomatoes until I was able to carry a tomato basket half full. I filled the bottom half and then handed it off to mom or dad to finish filling.

Two points to take from the above tale, Rutgers tomato plants are still available, usually referred to as an heirloom variety. Also, blight can still plague the tomato grower, whether a commercial one or one with a few stalks in the garden.

A very significant development in recent decades has been the introduction of disease resistance into many tomato varieties. Please note that resistance only means less likely and not immunity.

If thinking about planting tomatoes, your first decision is whether to use an heirloom variety or select from the newer introductions. Some say the heirlooms taste better but that is not an argument my taste buds will join. I like a slice of tomato that, when added to a sandwich, is firm enough to just lay there, rather than one so juicy that it wants to float away. You have choices.

Next pick a fresh spot in the garden. The conventional wisdom used to be to practice a five year rotation before replanting tomatoes at the same field (spot). My guess is that it still is. Growing tomatoes in a pot using an artificial mix is an option if you have limited space or sense soil problems.

A bit of fertilizer is fine, but don’t overdo it. Tomatoes are an indicator plant for most prepared soil mixes as far as fertility. The thinking is, that if a tomato seeding survives three days in the soil mix, it is safe for most all other plants. Lesser excesses in fertility can cause uncontrolled growth and fruit buds to abort.

Another common problem with tomatoes is a deformity, or blackening, at the blossom end. This is attributed to a calcium deficiency, but is more often a calcium uptake factor, due to uneven moisture. I use a two inch PVC pipe when staking tomatoes. When it’s dry, I pour water down the pipe, getting moisture to the roots and keeping the leaves dry. Grown on the ground, I would suggest a soaker hose.

When you go to most greenhouses for tomato plants you will be tempted by a large plant in a large pot. If you get one expect ripe tomatoes earlier but also some reduction in yield.

Do you need to spray? I make a couple of applications for disease. By the time you see blight, it’s too late. Take the risk or practice prevention. I seldom have seen insect problems, but this new brown stink bug is a concern.

Tomato plants are very sensitive to frost, so when do I plant? I wait until April 25 and then study the ten day forecast. If the weatherman is happy, I plant. If not, I wait a few days and check again. I also have a collection of old peach baskets that I line with plastic bags to cover plants if I got into too big of a hurry.

Early last week, a friend, who knows my penchant to get in the car and go, asked me what I was up to. Before I could answer, he spotted my hands and told me that it was obvious.

Later that evening I picked up my copy of The Chronicle, and when I found what I had written last week I noticed that the tag line at the bottom now said that I was semi-retired. My hands wanted to protest, but the rest of me decided that that’s not a bad place to be.

Yes, I’m traveling more and am helping the kids, but I also have more time to garden and watch birds, two things that I have enjoyed all my life.

On March 26 I saw the ground in my garden was about right and I pulled my roto-tiller out of the barn. The ground worked really nicely. The next morning I made another pass with the tiller and planted peas. When I wanted a bit more tilled space for onions and spinach I found the ground too frozen to work, so I waited until after lunch to complete that day’s projects.

In the process, I found a short row of spinach I had planted last August. It looks west and took the brunt of what winter had to offer but looks quite promising. I will do that again this year.

A few hours later, in an Amish shop I visit, I told the proprietor about my day’s activities and he pleaded that I not tell his wife, because it was too cold to garden right then. I didn’t argue but my peas are sprouted and I bet his aren’t. It’s beginning to look like a late start this year.

Several days later, with input from the wife and kids, it was determined that I should plant 50 asparagus roots. I found another brief weather window and dug a trench a foot deep and wide and 52 feet long. Despite rather wet soil I put them in last Wednesday, just barely covering the plants.

I’d like a brief shower to settle the soil around the roots. When I see growth emerge, I will add a bit of dirt to cover it eventually filling the trench in the next month or two.

Beans, cabbage, broccoli, lettuce and beets are my targets in the next weather opportunity.

Another project underway is building an electric fence about my fledgling retirement orchard. For the first year I boxed my young trees with four pallets. Now the trees are too big for the pallets but too small totownship. If your martin houses aren’t up, get moving. On April 6, I added six new birds to my year’s list. At least the birds think spring is near. Spend a few minutes to enjoy the spring migration and the new arrivals in our yards.

As a small child I remember my grandfather helping dad and mom husk corn. My parents hoed a lot of strawberries and picked a lot of fruit and produce when I was getting started. Why shouldn’t my grandkids see me helping their parents at this point in life?