It may only be the end of January but I am getting a head start with my garden planning. I don't have much space to grow it in so I have really been thinking about narrowing down the things I am going to grow to a few things that I KNOW my family will eat fresh or canned. I want to be able to grow a lot of these items. So I am adding more growing containers and improving my soil, and narrowing down the number of items I am growing.
1: Watermelon. I am most on the fence about this one. I have never grown watermelon before, but I do think that with a few plants and the right support system I can get 4 or 5 melons. We will see. This is a risk, not having grown watermelons before. From the "real world" research I've done it seems that each plant in a container will yield one fruit. I need to decide whether or not to trellis the vine or let them run on the patio. Not sure how they'll do on concrete but with the heat retention of it maybe these heat loving plants will thrive. Still some research to do here. My kids LOVE watermelon and I think it would be a great learning experience for them to help plant, watch grow, and eventually eat the watermelons we grow ourselves.
A couple of links I am reading about growing watermelons in containers: this user experience and this simple guide.
2. Tomatoes. A recent trip to see our friends in Waynesville inspired me to really go nuts with tomatoes this year. My friend Lesley sent me some info on how to make your own tomato sauce and I think I am going to make this my goal. My oldest son and I are the only ones who really enjoy eating tomatoes fresh, but we do consume a LOT of tomato products throughout the year so I was thinking maybe I could just go nuts and grow a ton of tomatoes and make a ton of tomato sauce... that's my goal. Right now I am thinking the Roma variety but I may grow some others for slicing.
3. Red peppers. I can use these for slicing and canning and in a tomato sauce perhaps... roasted red peppers... yuuum. A little on the fence about this...
4.Pickling cucumbers. We have a pickle obsession here in our household. And the kids love cucumbers. I think we'll just grow as many of these as we can and pickle what we don't eat fresh. I don't think anyone will mind that. Not sure what variety I will be trying yet. 'Calypso' is one I am looking at.
This extensive guide has been a huge help.
5. Blueberries. I miss my blueberry bushes! I have some really big tubs and I think I can grow them successfully there... again, another fruit my kids love, and they can be frozen for future use if we have more than we can handle. Which I doubt we will... but it will be fun nonetheless. I woul d like to have 3-4 plants.
I have been reading this about growing blueberries in containers.
6, 7, & 8. Peat moss, vermiculite and mushroom compost. This is "Mel's Mix"... recommended by Mel Bartholomew, the "father" of Square Foot Gardening. Since I don't have a square foot garden anymore, and I am using containers, this is a good combo. I used it when I first started gardening and had a wonderful success! I tried a modified verson of this in the fall but frankly I did it wrong. I should have done peat moss in place of manure. I really think my soil was too dense. This mix provides plenty of light and airy space within a pot for roots to grow and I hope in conjunction with larger containers we will have a better result.
Currently I have 4 larger storage tubs I plan to use plus one REALLY big one. I also have about 20 pots, maybe 6 or 7 of them are "larger" and probably most suited for tomatoes. I am not sure what I am going to put in the smaller pots this time... maybe herbs (I already have two big rosemary plants... maybe sage this time)... maybe Lantana and good butterfly/bee attracting flowers to help with pollination....
I need to measure the volume of everything and determine how much of the soil components I need and decide which plants to plant from seed and which to grow from plants. I have had the most success historically with seeds and since I am getting a head start I am hoping to have time to get quality stuff over time since it can be expensive in one big purchase.
I don't know how many of you even appreciate this kind of post, but I get kind of excited about this time of year and wanted to share this all with you.
Come on, Spring!!
You're right about gettin a little here and there,I've already started buying soil and root packs so that my husband doesn't "see" the expense ;) I almost started planting on Monday after a week of 75-80 degree weather here in Texas. It's a good thing I didn't because winter rolled back in last night! Texas is ridiculously bipolar, my bougainvillea plant bloomed like crazy in late November through December. I looked this up and found out it's probably a "fall performer". Isn't that a sweet term for a plant? ;) May all your seeds bear fruit(or veggies)
ReplyDeleteGirl I hear that!!! I was so tempted last week to start buying stuff but I know (and today is the example) that I shouldn't... it's coooold! But it was oh so nice just a couple days ago! I am kinda looking forward to Spring, except for the intensely hot summer that follows...
DeleteTexas summer can kiss my lilly white butt ;) Don't remind me of summer....
DeleteYay! I love this post! Okay, I am going to tell you though, don't sell yourself short and just grow Roma... go nuts and go look at tomatofest.com and search through the hundreds of heirloom tomatoes! You won't regret it... even if it's just you that eats the big slicers, you can put away three as an appetizer before dinner. Even grow some cherries and turn them into a sauce or put them in a salad or wrap. The big ones make nice sauces too. My favorites so far are Cherokee Purple, Lollipop (a cherry), Black Cherry (so yummy!), and Brandywine. If you grow those four, they are nice staples for anything you need them to be. Make a salsa, pizza sauce, whatever. So yeah, don't sell yourself short. Those do well in containers too. What I've done for sauces is I don't have enough tomatoes right away to make the sauce, I freeze them until I do have enough.
ReplyDeleteAlso if you need more pots, consider going to a local nursery, my husband worked in landscape and they always just throw them out when they are done with them. Free! Sometimes home depot or such has used ones that they sell for 10 cents.
Add some herbs to your grow list too, they are easy and cheap and don't need a lot of work :)
I'm excited for you for spring!