Angels In My Garden  Week #6   February 8,  2010

 "The fair-weather gardener, who will do nothing except when the wind and weather and everything else are favorable, is never master of his craft."-- Henry Ellacombe

Hello Fellow Gardeners,

Well, we certainly got walloped by Old Man Winter this past week. The snow sitting on the picnic table on my back porch measures 22 inches and we haven't had power at our house since 9:30 Friday evening (It's now Sunday afternoon). Thank God for sons who live nearby, for good neighbors and friends and for propane heaters.

Since we are not “fair-weather gardeners” let's not let this winter weather deter us from forging ahead with our gardening plans. This week we will consider container gardening. Vegetable gardening in containers can be surprisingly productive. It's a great way to go if you don't have a yard; but container gardens can also be a nice addition to your regular garden.

Container Gardening

Many people who live in an apartment, condominium, or mobile home do not grow a vegetable garden because space is not available for a garden plot. Lack of yard space is no excuse for not gardening, since many kinds of vegetables can be readily grown in containers. In addition to providing adequate sun, attention must be given to choosing the proper container, using a good planting medium, spacing requirements and watering.

Containers are available in many different sizes, shapes, and materials. All containers, whether clay, wood, plastic, or ceramic, should have an adequate number of holes in the bottom for proper drainage. Additional holes can be drilled or punched in containers that do not drain quickly after each watering. Drainage is reduced when the container is set on a solid surface such as a cement or patio floor. Raising the container one or two inches off the floor by setting it on bricks or blocks of wood will solve this drainage problem.

The size of the container will be determined by the vegetable grown. Generally, most vegetables grown in the soil can be grown in containers as long as ample space is provided for root development. Shallow-rooted crops like lettuce, peppers, radishes, and herbs need a container at least 6 inches across with an eight inch soil depth. A rectangular planter box works well. Bushel baskets, half barrels, wooden tubs, or large pressed paper containers are ideal for growing tomatoes, squash, pole beans, and cucumbers.

A good planting medium can be made by mixing equal parts of sand, organic garden soil, and peat moss, mixed with a generous amount of homemade compost, if available.

Planting and spacing requirements for most vegetables can be found on the seed packet. A container can sustain only a certain number of plants, therefore, it is important to limit the number of plants based on the container size and the eventual size of the plant at maturity.

Watering is one of the most important jobs a container gardener will perform. Whatever you plant from seed should be watered daily with a fine mist until it sprouts, so that the soil never dries out. Some vegetables will continue to need watering every day, depending on container size and weather conditions, but container plants will always need more watering than those grown in the ground. The best way to water plants after they’ve sprouted is with a watering can or a bucket and cup, at the ground level rather than spraying them from overhead. This is the best method for the plants and the most water-conservative. The water should not be too hot or too cold.

Almost any vegetable can be adapted to container culture. The following is a listing of some of the common container-grown vegetables and container sizes.

Adapted from
North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service

Reflection: I started out this weeks message with a little note about gratitude. I'd like to end it with a passage from the writings of the revered Sufi mystic, Hazrat Inayat Khan. He talks about friendship and gratitude in his book, Personality: The Art of Being and Becoming, and it is friendship that has made me feel overwhelmingly grateful these past few days; grateful for the friends who called to ask whether we were okay, grateful for our nextdoor neighbors who gave us their propane and helped us shovel out; grateful for my spiritual teacher and community for their prayers and concern, and especially grateful to God for all these blessings.

“[Friendship] is a simple lesson, and a lesson that we have to learn; today when nations are against nations and races against races, when communities are against communities and one religion against another, it is now that friendship is so much needed. Besides, friendship is the first lesson of spirituality that one can learn. One may think that friendship,, a personal friendship, means nothing; that one does not become spiritual through a personal friendship. But one does. A person begins his spiritual accomplishment by learning how to be a friend. For one who is really treading the path of friendship need not go anywhere to learn morals. Friendship itself teaches him sincerity, gratitude, sympathy, tenderness, appreciation; all these things that we must learn in this world, friendship teaches us. Once a person begins to learn these things through friendship with one person, he will naturally show to others the same virtues that he has acquired by going along this path; just as someone who has learned how to sing beautifully will sing every song that is given to him beautifully. The one who has cultivated his heart through friendship will naturally be inclined to be friends with others.“

                                                                                                                      Hazrat Inayat Khan

Until next week,

Peace be with you,

Rose Mirabai Lord

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