It has occurred to me that perhaps folks want to garden but don't have the space. The good news is as long as you have a space for a container, you can garden! Areas that work are roof tops, court yards, patios, decks, window boxes and even an overhang where you can put a hanging planter.
Earth boxes are wonderful for vegetables. (http://www.earthbox.com/) They are a patented system that has a base of water with a filler hole. You can't overwater! The plant's roots are able to get down into the water through a shelf that sits over the water. The soil is placed on top of this shelf and the plants on top. Be sure your vegetables will get at least 6 to 8 hours of sunshine per day. The advantage to containers are, you can move them to follow the sun if necessary!
There are many other advantages to continer gardening. Of course space is number one. Several containers don't take up that much room. Also, container gardens don't generally have the weed or insect problems of gardening in a patch of lawn or field. Containers are generally cost effective, depending on what you use. But even if you purchase something, it can be used over and over.
Another wonderful thing about container gardening is the plant diversity you can enjoy. Annuals, perennials, woody plants, grasses, vegetables and even water plants can be container grown. You also have choices of many containers for your space, cost and mobility. Types of containers are made of wood, plastic, clay, ceramic, metal or even an old boot will work.
It is important that your container have drainage. If there isn't a hole in the bottom, make one. If the container is large, such as a whiskey barrel, you can fill some of it with those packing peanuts. Fill a plastic bag with them to take up nearly half of the room of the barrel, then put a layer of landscape fabric over the top and add your soil. The landscape fabric is porous so the soil will stay put and water will be able to drain through it.
I don't recommend putting stones in the bottom of your containers. They make the container too heavy to move and it isn't certain that they provide enough drainage to actually work. If you have a week of rain, they won't drain at all. You can probably get away with using them inside your home where YOU control the amount of water the planter gets.
Dark colored containers heat up quicker and can cause moisture and heat stress, so put lighter colored containers in direct sun. Clay is porous so those pots will dry out quicker than plastic. Hanging planters will also dry out very quickly. They may need water every day during very hot weather.
The type of soil you use in container gardening is important. Soil from your garden, lawn or field is too heavy and can hold insects. The best soil is something "soil less" such as Pro Mix (there are other brands.) These mediums contain peat moss and vermiculite and nutrients for your plant. They are light but hold water well. Look for anything that doesn't contain soil in the name.
If you have several very large containers and don't want to purchase planting mediums, you can amend garden soil with a little peat moss, vermiculite and compost. Commerical cow manure is fine. You might get more weeds with this soil so beware. The recommendation is to not reuse your soil the next year, but I will often amend my old soil over and over each season. This is done by dumping the soil in the garden in the fall, after the plants have been removed. In the Spring, put it back into your containers with the amendments.
Your containers will need to be kept well watered and fed often. Some people believe in using a weak fertilizer every time they water annuals in containers. When using fertilizers, be certain you are using the correct type for the plant and the correct amount. And please water the plant with plain water first, then add the water with the fertilizer. You don't want to burn those tender roots. Miracle Grow is a favorite fertilizer of many nurseries.
I love to mix several plants in one container. I've mentioned Garden Gate Magazine in a previous post. Every issue has a container recipe. The 'recipe' shows exactly where to put each plant and then shows the photo of the container at its peak. I've tried many and they are fabulous.
It's very addicting, this container planting! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Learning more about gardening
And the rain keeps coming down......
My Maine Coon Cat, Basil has the right idea. He went back to bed!
I've mentioned before that I learned much more about gardening once I got out there and actually dug in the soil. Most of what I've learned came from other gardeners.
I'm lucky to live in an area that has a great University; the University of Maine at Orono. They have a wealth of instructors, professors, and Cooperative Extension Educators that my garden club can ask to present programs for a small stipend.
I highly recommend to anyone new to gardening that they join a garden club, learn from the programs the club has to offer and if the club is federated all the better because they offer schools such as Gardening Study and Landscape Design Schools. If you have the time to invest, take the Master Gardener course. At all of these schools and meetings, you will meet people like you! Gardeners that want to learn more about gardening.
That is not to say that your garden centers can't help you find the right plants for the right place. But these are busy people selling you a product and sometimes they are seasonal help that might not have the expertise or the time to help you learn what you need to know.
Another wonderful way to learn about plants is at your local Farmer's Market. Many times there will be someone there selling perennials and annuals. When they are not busy, this is a good time to ask questions and make friends. Next time you visit they will remember you and take the time to help you.
Check out gardening magazines, too. I personally love People, Places and Plants because it is a regional magazine. Another I enjoy is Garden Gate. But beware and note zones when they discuss certain plants.
Well the rain is finally subsiding so I'll go see about those Japanese Beetles on my pole beans.
My Maine Coon Cat, Basil has the right idea. He went back to bed!
I've mentioned before that I learned much more about gardening once I got out there and actually dug in the soil. Most of what I've learned came from other gardeners.
I'm lucky to live in an area that has a great University; the University of Maine at Orono. They have a wealth of instructors, professors, and Cooperative Extension Educators that my garden club can ask to present programs for a small stipend.
I highly recommend to anyone new to gardening that they join a garden club, learn from the programs the club has to offer and if the club is federated all the better because they offer schools such as Gardening Study and Landscape Design Schools. If you have the time to invest, take the Master Gardener course. At all of these schools and meetings, you will meet people like you! Gardeners that want to learn more about gardening.
That is not to say that your garden centers can't help you find the right plants for the right place. But these are busy people selling you a product and sometimes they are seasonal help that might not have the expertise or the time to help you learn what you need to know.
Another wonderful way to learn about plants is at your local Farmer's Market. Many times there will be someone there selling perennials and annuals. When they are not busy, this is a good time to ask questions and make friends. Next time you visit they will remember you and take the time to help you.
Check out gardening magazines, too. I personally love People, Places and Plants because it is a regional magazine. Another I enjoy is Garden Gate. But beware and note zones when they discuss certain plants.
Well the rain is finally subsiding so I'll go see about those Japanese Beetles on my pole beans.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
We're busy with new garden plans
I've been out of touch lately, haven't I? Well to catch you up, not much goes on in the winter in Maine so we go to Florida!!! Well, okay so we went for 16 days. We spent it on the beach in a quaint beach town called Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. It's near Pompano Beach (I like to tell people I walk to Pompano Beach every day!)
We seem to have a lot going on here in Maine. Trying to sell our Lake House (http://www.mainelakehouse.blogspot.com/) trying to sell my Mom's house in Nobleboro, Maine so she can move into an independent apartment complex and we're doing some work on our house here in Brewer, Maine. Brewer is a neat place to live. It's grown so much since we moved here nearly 22 years ago. There is a lot to offer by way of shopping and of course we're sister city to Bangor across the river, where you can find just about anything you need.
But back to gardening!
We have to replace two fences that close in our backyard/pool area. They are 22 years old after all and made out of wood that was painted. No wonder they're decayed! So that means moving plants. But that's not all! We cut down a dozen or so trees in our backyard (did I mention hubby wanted to be an Arborist until his knees said no way?) So that means those shade loving plants you see by the fence in my shade garden photo to the right now need to be moved and replaced with sun loving plants!
We decided to go "no care" with vinyl fencing. They are bright white. I want to tone them down somewhat. Here's my plan. The fence you see in the photo is along side our new deck. We spend a lot of time out there and when not outside, we can look out the window and see it. Since the new configuration of the new deck affords better viewing of the back yard where the trees were cut, we planted 31 hostas along the perimeter of the lawn. Yeah, they're in the sun most of the time, but hostas are quite adaptable. Some of the blues and varigated don't like it that much, so they might get replaced next year.
We like a lot of color. So on this side of the fence, I will plant daylilies in shades of yellows, reds and combinations thereof. There is an awesome lily grower in Unity, Maine (http://www.elliesdaylilies.com/) that my garden club friends and I visited a couple weeks ago. Ellie spoke at our club last year and everyone was intrigued to go on a shopping trip.
I will probably put 5 daylilies in front of that fence leaving room for sunflowers in the back that I can plant in the spring. The hummingbirds love the red bee balm, so perhaps with my color scheme, they might look nice as well.
On the other side of this fence we have three lilacs and a flowering quince, that took a bit hit when the trees were taken down. It may not survive :-(
As for the fence on the other side of the house, the side that is facing the road will also be quite colorful in purple and yellow. On the back of the fence I will move the three veronicastrum from the first fence (you can see them in the photo; they are tall and actually have a leaf that looks a tad like something illegal but the blossoms are long and a light shade of purple.) In front of them I plan to have purple and yellow coneflowers. I have two varieties of yellow coneflowers in the Big Sky Series that are tall and erect that I can split and want to buy at least one more. The purple ones spring up in my gardens so I have plenty I can move to this area. I also thought that in the spring I would plant a few cleome in there. I love cleome! And they can grow up to 3 feet tall. They can be purple or pink and have a bit of white on them. I really think they will add some pazzaz to the color scheme. It also helps to have something blooming in white to take your eyes from the very white of the fence. I don't particularly like white coneflower but do have a wonderful Shasta Daisy, 'Becky' that is tall and erect. Come to think of it I have a large white phlox ... oh! .... and I have purple phlox. Ok, now this garden is really growing! See what happens? It's adicting, I tell ya ;-)
Next July I'll take pictures of the new plantings so you can see what I ended up doing.
Oh! I am still working on my project for the New England Region. You can see the first part, which is a list of Maine native plants on the Garden Club Federation of Maine website at http://www.mainegardenclubs.org/ and click on NER PROJECT at the top of the page. I am hoping to have photos soon of potentially invasive plants in Maine and some photos of the native ones you can plant instead. So stay tuned!!!
We seem to have a lot going on here in Maine. Trying to sell our Lake House (http://www.mainelakehouse.blogspot.com/) trying to sell my Mom's house in Nobleboro, Maine so she can move into an independent apartment complex and we're doing some work on our house here in Brewer, Maine. Brewer is a neat place to live. It's grown so much since we moved here nearly 22 years ago. There is a lot to offer by way of shopping and of course we're sister city to Bangor across the river, where you can find just about anything you need.
But back to gardening!
We have to replace two fences that close in our backyard/pool area. They are 22 years old after all and made out of wood that was painted. No wonder they're decayed! So that means moving plants. But that's not all! We cut down a dozen or so trees in our backyard (did I mention hubby wanted to be an Arborist until his knees said no way?) So that means those shade loving plants you see by the fence in my shade garden photo to the right now need to be moved and replaced with sun loving plants!
We decided to go "no care" with vinyl fencing. They are bright white. I want to tone them down somewhat. Here's my plan. The fence you see in the photo is along side our new deck. We spend a lot of time out there and when not outside, we can look out the window and see it. Since the new configuration of the new deck affords better viewing of the back yard where the trees were cut, we planted 31 hostas along the perimeter of the lawn. Yeah, they're in the sun most of the time, but hostas are quite adaptable. Some of the blues and varigated don't like it that much, so they might get replaced next year.
We like a lot of color. So on this side of the fence, I will plant daylilies in shades of yellows, reds and combinations thereof. There is an awesome lily grower in Unity, Maine (http://www.elliesdaylilies.com/) that my garden club friends and I visited a couple weeks ago. Ellie spoke at our club last year and everyone was intrigued to go on a shopping trip.
I will probably put 5 daylilies in front of that fence leaving room for sunflowers in the back that I can plant in the spring. The hummingbirds love the red bee balm, so perhaps with my color scheme, they might look nice as well.
On the other side of this fence we have three lilacs and a flowering quince, that took a bit hit when the trees were taken down. It may not survive :-(
As for the fence on the other side of the house, the side that is facing the road will also be quite colorful in purple and yellow. On the back of the fence I will move the three veronicastrum from the first fence (you can see them in the photo; they are tall and actually have a leaf that looks a tad like something illegal but the blossoms are long and a light shade of purple.) In front of them I plan to have purple and yellow coneflowers. I have two varieties of yellow coneflowers in the Big Sky Series that are tall and erect that I can split and want to buy at least one more. The purple ones spring up in my gardens so I have plenty I can move to this area. I also thought that in the spring I would plant a few cleome in there. I love cleome! And they can grow up to 3 feet tall. They can be purple or pink and have a bit of white on them. I really think they will add some pazzaz to the color scheme. It also helps to have something blooming in white to take your eyes from the very white of the fence. I don't particularly like white coneflower but do have a wonderful Shasta Daisy, 'Becky' that is tall and erect. Come to think of it I have a large white phlox ... oh! .... and I have purple phlox. Ok, now this garden is really growing! See what happens? It's adicting, I tell ya ;-)
Next July I'll take pictures of the new plantings so you can see what I ended up doing.
Oh! I am still working on my project for the New England Region. You can see the first part, which is a list of Maine native plants on the Garden Club Federation of Maine website at http://www.mainegardenclubs.org/ and click on NER PROJECT at the top of the page. I am hoping to have photos soon of potentially invasive plants in Maine and some photos of the native ones you can plant instead. So stay tuned!!!
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