A New Twist on Container Gardening
It’s hard to believe that spring is just around the corner and that it’s time to start planning or even planting your Victory Garden depending on your gardening zone. Perhaps you would prefer to call it a Recession Garden or even a Depression Garden, goodness knows we all need to grow as much food as we can with the promises of higher food prices in our near future.
If you have a very small area in which to grow plants, like I do, don’t fret. You can grow much more than you ever thought you could with some new and innovative types of vertical gardening containers and with grow bags.
For me, gardening is anything but tilling up a patch of ground and planting seeds. Everything I grow must be grown in containers of some type. The first few years of container gardening can be a bit expensive, but most of the items you will need to buy can be used year after year.
The first thing that must be dealt with when container gardening is, of course, containers. Then there are the issues of growing mediums, fertilizers, watering systems and pesticides. I strive to be as organic as possible and I guess some will say either it’s organic or it’s not. I am not a purist, though I strive to be. I will tell you how I am doing my container gardening and it is, of course, up to you to do what is best for you.
This year, I wanted to grow many more veggies and fruits than last year. The problem of buying all the containers I needed put me in quite a conundrum regarding expenditures. Containers are not cheap if you have to buy them at the nursery, even the ugly black ones can present quite an outlay if you need a few hundred of them. The cost of growing mediums can also present a problem to the container gardener. I found everything I needed and wonderful advice at http://www.instagarden.com Bob Workman is the owner and is very helpful and knowledgeable about container gardening. All the products I am going to talk about here can be found at his website except for pesticide delivery systems (sprayers) and Dolomite Lime.
He introduced me to the five gallon grow bags which cost a mere fifty cents apiece plus shipping costs. These growbags can be used year after year and take miniscule space for storage between uses. At this price, your gardening horizons have just expanded exponentially when you compare the cost of a grow bag to the cost of buying a five gallon sized pot. Five gallons is sufficient space in which to grow tomatoes, cucumbers and just about any other garden veggie you can think of. If you have access to free, food grade, five gallon sized buckets (that did not previously contain harmful chemicals), those work just fine, too. All that is needed are a few holes drilled in them for proper water drainage and they work great as a planter. The grow bags are pleated and sit flat on the ground with sufficient drain holes incorporated into the design. They also come in smaller sizes if you prefer. Here is a short and very far from complete list of what types of veggies and how many of each plant you may fit into one of these five gallon sized grow bags:
Tomatoes 1 per bag
Bush Beans 6 plants per bag
Cucumbers 1 plant per bag
Bok Choy 3 plants per bag
Snowpeas 8 plants per bag
Peppers 1 plant per bag
Squash 2 plants per bag
Zucchini squash 1 plant per bag (Yes, you can even grow this in a container!)
So, now that we have taken care of the container problem, what is a person to do about filling up all those grow bags with growing medium? Instagarden carries coconut coir, which is an organic growing medium and comes in 5kg compressed blocks, which when hydated with water (about 10 gallons is required per block) in a wheel barrow or other large container, expands enough to fill three of the five gallon growbags with some left over. This medium is organic and is a renewable resource. You may also use any good potting soil mix in the grow bags. The advantage of coconut coir, when used as the sole growing medium, is that it can be used for several gardening seasons before it breaks down. I have chosen to use some potting soil amended with the coconut coir for a nice fluffy growing medium for some of my plants because I had several bags of the potting soil left over from last year. For others, I am using straight coconut coir. Coconut coir is cheaper than even Walmart’s potting soil, even with shipping included if you buy several 5 kg sized blocks at one time. These blocks are also much easier to move around than the bulky bags of potting mixes.
The next thing on our list is fertilizer. If you are using straight coconut coir, it is essential that you use a complete fertilizer like this one http://shop.instagarden.com/product.sc?categoryId=12&productId=8 This is a water soluable type granulated fertilizer that contains everything your veggies will need to not only survive, but to thrive. This fertilizer must be applied daily and you will need a combined water/fertilizer delivery system that will accomplish this task. You may instead use 10-10-10 fertilizer in granulated form to fertilize your veggies in the coconut coir medium inside the grow bags. Dolomite Lime in granular form only is also recommended if you are using the 10-10-10 granulated fertilizer with the coconut coir in order to meet the plant’s need for uptake of calcium. Dolomite Lime can be purchased at most plant nurseries or stores that sell gardening supplies. When using the 10-10-10 fertilizer with the Dolomite Lime, the water system I chose is quite efficient. (See paragraph below for more information on my irrigation system.)
There are several different ways to deliver water to your containers, this is the irrigation system that I chose. http://shop.instagarden.com/product.sc?categoryId=8&productId=4 I am growing several hundred plants in containers this year and to try and water all these by hand is a daunting task. It comes with a timer so you are not a slave to the water hose. Of course, if you have only a few plants to worry about, handwatering is the best option due to expense. Consistent watering in the correct amount is essential to a successful garden. Tomatoes are especially cranky about being watered inconsistently, if they are allowed to dry out, a sudden drenching can cause the fruits to crack.
So, now you have your plants all tucked into your growbags with coconut coir and fertilizer, the watering system is online, everything is looking beautiful and then you notice that a demonic force in the form of aphids, spider mites or other pests is trying to undo all your hard work. The best thing to do about pests is to not let them get a foothold in your garden in the first place if you can avoid it. The way to avoid it is to strike pre-emptively with a product that will not only kill the detrimental insects, but preserve the beneficial ones. I am using Stylet Oil, it is an organic, highly refined mineral oil and can be used as often as needed. I’ve found it to be especially effective against aphids, I am spraying my plants two to three times per week and I started spraying them before I saw any bugs at all. As a side note, please consider buying a sprayer as a delivery system for your pesticide (these can be obtained at just about any large store such as Lowe’s or Home Depot). The sprayer enables you to reach the areas where many foes hide, which is underneath the leaves and it is much better at controlling exactly where the pesticide goes. I tried using a quart spray bottle with a pump and it is not efficient at all. I bought a twenty dollar sprayer at Lowe’s and now I am able to get to those hard to reach places easily and finish the chore quickly. The Stylet Oil is odorless, clear and is mixed with water. A gallon of the Stylet Oil will last a very long time. It not only kills many types of pests, but acts as a fungicide as well. It will not kill slugs or tomato horned worms, but it is a very efficient miticide when used religiously, if you can stop the bugs from biting into your plants, you can also avoid many diseases these insects carry from plant to plant.
Vertical stacking pots are a great alternative for anyone who has a garden space problem. I planted ninety chives and bunching onion plants in this stacking pot system with ten trays http://shop.instagarden.com/product.sc?categoryId=14&productId=27 It has a footprint of merely one square foot. There are others available with larger planting areas. I am using coconut coir and a complete fertilizer in these stacking planters, but you could use any good potting mix the same as with any other pot. The larger pots are big enough for just about any vegetable plant you could hope to grow.
Vertical and container gardening might also open up the possibility of disabled persons being able to garden again, since the containers can be set up at a height that is wheelchair accessible and makes it possible for others who find it difficult to bend, squat and kneel to work in a much more comfortable position.
I believe that growing plants for food and for beauty is part of the human essence. There’s nothing else quite like it.
Happy container gardening and here’s to a cornucopia of fresh goodness on your table.
