Friday July 15, 2011
Coconut Container Garden
Photograph © Mike Lieberman
I'm a huge fan of Mike Lieberman and his website, Urban Organic Gardener. I have followed his adventures from when he was just starting out growing edibles on a Brooklyn fire escape to his current, comparatively spacious balcony in Los Angeles. He is all about experiential gardening and has an 'anyone can grow food,' attitude that I love. He encourages people to stop procrastinating and grow something, which I not only applaud, I think needs to go on a tee shirt.
Check out the great guest article he wrote, Gardening In Small Spaces.
Because, sadly, there are no vendors in Maine selling coconut water, I may have to get some coconuts and a machete and make a coconut container garden myself!
Wednesday July 13, 2011
Container Garden Picture of the Week
Annual Wreath by Allen Sterling and Lothrup
Monday July 11, 2011
Zucchini Jail
Photograph © Kerry Michaels
I love my local foxes. They not only are amazing to look at they seem to have decimated the woodchuck population. While I'm afraid I will jinx my good fortune by writing this, so far so good when it comes to woodchuck vegetable consumption. I have had some munching going on though. They have eaten most of my cosmos and to my great surprise, someone, either woodchuck, squirrel or chipmunk, ate all of my pink petunias in one pot. They left the lovely yellow ones right next to them, but scarfed every single bright pink flower...hmmmmm...Oh and then there are the sunflower seeds, which I planted three times.
Last year zucchini seemed to be the vegetable of choice. This year I have found a solution....
How to Protect Your Container Gardens from Critters
Thursday July 7, 2011
Blueberry in a Smart Pot
Photograph © Kerry Michaels
The truth is that the primary reason that I container garden is that I'm a fairly lousy in-ground gardener and there are some plants I simply can't seem to grow conventionally. Rhubarb for example. It is a notoriously un-fussy plant, however I have tried to grow many rhubarb plants in the ground and have murdered them all. This year I had an ah ha moment when I thought, I can grow it in a container. I bought a tiny seedling this spring and popped it into a Smart Pot. Guess what? I now have a very large and healthy rhubarb plant which is thriving.
Another container garden vs in ground gardening success story for me is blueberries. I live in Maine and low bush blueberries grow wild and freely all over my backyard. Many years ago, I planted 6 high bush blueberries in the ground next to the wild ones. I have not even gotten enough blueberries to make one lousy pancake from all those bushes.
Last year I decided to follow my own advice and try growing blueberries in containers (again in Smart Pots). My container blueberries are loaded with fruit, while the bushes they are next to that are in the ground, are almost naked. I'm just saying......
10 Reasons To Try Container Gardening
