strawberries

Simple steps to delicious container veggies at home

We are all craving back-to-basics outdoor time right now.  Early concerns about food lit a fire under many of us to grow our own fruits and veggies at home.  But what if you’ve never grown food before?

Many would-be vegetable gardeners are thwarted by a lack of experience or space, impenetrable rocky soil or clay, or a shortage of sunshine.  With limited space on a balcony or patio, too much shade or landscape conditions that aren’t conducive to vegetable gardening, what’s a wannabe green thumb to do?

The burgeoning gardening movement and the increasing national interest in growing vegetables at home has fueled the creation of many alternatives to a patch of rich soil in the ground.

Alternative growing containers are the latest trend, making vegetable gardening simpler than ever.  To go along with the increasing desire for small space alternatives, there are also more container-sized vegetable varieties now than ever before.

Most vegetables can be grown in a whole host of containers.  From boring plastic pots to specially designed grow bags, it’s never been easier to get started.  There are many other container options for inexpensive and moveable mini-gardens, too.  Consider large 5-gallon plastic buckets, leftover from house projects.  Other options include wooden barrels, galvanized tubs, even bushel baskets.   Just make sure the container has adequate drainage by poking holes in the bottom.  And, if you’d rather not look at a white plastic pickle bucket housing your tomatoes, you can spray paint your container to match any garden decor.  Make sure the container is safe, and not treated in any way with toxic materials.

Don’t forget about vertical spaces. Hanging baskets can be used for lightweight greens and herbs and some fruits or vegetables will even grow in upside-down hanging planters.  Train your vining vegetables up on poles, supports or trellises as much as possible, using the vertical space in your garden as well as the ground.  Large plants like tomatoes will also need tomato cages in the pots to give them the support they need.

Use the right size planter.  Smaller containers work for herbs, but for veggies, make sure your pot is big enough and has drainage holes in the bottom.  One of the most important things you can do to ensure success is to use a big enough container—the bigger, the better. For one indeterminate tomato plant, for example, you need a container that is at least 1 square foot, but 2 square feet is better. Five-gallon buckets (with holes drilled) are the perfect size for one plant.

Be sure to use a lightweight potting soil.  Choose a mix designed specifically for pots that will help it drain properly. Do not use topsoil or garden soil.

Keep a close eye on the moisture needs of the plant – remember, containers dry out faster than soil in the ground.  Be sure to water regularly to keep plants happy and healthy.  Keeping your containers near a water source will make regular watering easier.

Check out your sunlight.  Most veggies need between 6-8 hours of sunlight.  If you have lots of shade, containers are great because you can move them around the maximize sun exposure.

Make sure you give your plant the right nutrients—nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium—all essential for container growing. Some potting soils come with fertilizing nutrients in them. If your bag doesn’t, buy all-purpose slow-release fertilizer or a tomato/veggie-specific fertilizer and follow the directions on the bag.

Happy Gardening.

Early bloomers are putting on a show in the spring garden

Even though it’s only March, it’s already spring here in Central Texas.

After our exceptionally mild winter and welcome rains, the early bloomers are already hard at work in my garden.

In addition to the daffodils I included in my last post, many of the other perennials are already flowering.

This loropetalum is bursting with hot pink fringe-like blooms.

It’s the one I’ve pruned to become a small tree.

These pretty little blooms below called to me at the Natural Gardener last week.

And as soon as I started typing, the name flew out of my head! I’m sure you know just what they are – they aren’t mums, they might be gaillardia.


The wisteria is starting to bloom. Like last year, there is some growth on the back side of the fence, but there are plenty of buds for me to enjoy inside the fence.
I love looking at the Mexican plum tree buds against the pretty blue sky.
The stone wall makes a nice backdrop for the trailing lavender lantana behind the pool.
The hellebores would have preferred a colder winter, but some of them are giving me some blooms — this is ‘winter’s wren.’
The strawberries are blooming their ever-loving heads off! Soon we will be able to eat more than one ripe one at a time. I long for the day when we get a small bowl full.
My absolute favorite low-grower is ‘homestead’ verbena. That bright purple color is just stunning.
All of my blackfoot daisies are back again from last year. You just can’t beat these little guys for drought tolerance.
The alyssum is mounding up all over along the rock path already.

‘May night’ salvia can do great in the garden here, but my luck with them has been hit and miss. I love their low-growing form, but they are hard to get established.
Kallie’s window box is full of little pretties that I got last weekend at the Natural Gardener.
After some slacking last year, many of my irises are showing off for the first time. I don’t know the name of the purple or the white iris, though I believe the white one may be a pass along from Pam of Digging or Annie of The Transplantable Rose.

As always, Fletcher wanted to know what I was doing in the garden with that camera around my neck, so he had to come check out the salvia, too! I’m sure he thought there must be something edible in there!

Everbearing strawberries ready to eat…

Ahhhh.
The ever-bearing strawberries are bearing again. Kallie ate the first red, ripe, sweet, incredibly juicy strawberry from the garden this week. She pronounced it delicious.
I’ve eaten some of this broccoli, really I have. And I have another plant that hasn’t bolted yet, so I will be eating that one, too. But I love letting some of them bloom because I think they are so pretty and delicate. Broccoli isn’t something I think of as delicate. In fact, when Kallie was little we used to call them trees at the dinner table. But the blooms are so different.
So close…The bluebonnets are just swelling up with foliar pride with all this delightful rain. I can’t wait to see them in all their blue splendor. They have self-seeded throughout the playscape pea gravel — it’s going to be a show.
I’ve seen many Texas mountain laurels blooming all over town, but mine are holding back just a little. Buds abound, though.

The Italian parsley is huge. I’m sure that the caterpillars are going to be very grateful when I have to turn it over to them. I’ll have to get out there and sneak some for myself before they get here.

Veggie delight…

I set out to weed the unruly vegetable garden yesterday and was delighted to find a bountiful (work with me here!) harvest for our lunch!

I thought I’d planted the carrots much too late.

I’d given up all hope of having any this season.

I hadn’t planted any in years, and then they turned out to be stubby, dwarfed mutants.

But lo and behold, today I pulled out three perfect little carrots.

And to go along with them 4 little radishes, a cherry tomato and some strawberries.

Just enough to add to out lunch and put a smile on my face.

Bowl full o’ berries…

They tried to hide from me in the garden, but I saw them peeking out from under all that foliage and all those little white flowers!
See them there, being sneaky? But I’m smarter than they are, plus, my mouth was watering looking at those juicy, ripe berries. They’re going to be breakfast tomorrow.
Look at this beautiful variegated leaf on the base of the Eureka lemon tree. It makes me so happy to see the pink tinge on that cream and green leaf. It may be a long road back, but it’s coming right along. I’m going to fertilize it this week, too, to give it a little extra help.
This beauty is on the Carefree Beauty Rose bush – Katy Road. There are buds and blooms all over it.
This profusion of trumpets is my Crossvine that grows on the back fence…
…and way up into the neighboring oak tree! The fence is 6 ft tall, so you can tell how high those vines have climbed.

Teensy-weensy seedlings…

Okay.

I planted 9 pots with seeds on Saturday. Yes, Saturday. That’s 4 days ago.

And this morning when I went into the greenhouse, 5, count ’em, 5, of the pots had seedlings in them.

YAY.

Here’s who’s up:

Lemongrass
Lima Beans
Yellow Pear Tomatoes
Dr. Wyche’s Yellow Tomatillos
Spacemaster Cucumbers

I’ve never had seedlings come up this fast. And it’s the first time I used a heat mat from Gardeners Supply Company under them at night and it seems to have made all the difference. I’ll have to go out there and plant some more things! I have a second mat I haven’t put to use yet.

The ever-bearing strawberries are ever bearing! There are blooms all over the plants.
And my little Ice Plant was smiling at me from the back rock path with its sunny little bloom today.

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