New style of gardening: Container gardening

When Yuma’s wonderful fall weather arrives, I am tempted to head to the nearest nursery and buy every vegetable, herb, fruit tree and flowering plant they sell.

Sadly, however, few of us have the room or energy to handle such an array of vegetation. Only Martha Stewart and her hundreds of helping hands can tackle such a project successfully. So I must limit my purchases to the garden space I have and to my ability to care for my lovely plants.

As my stamina has slowed, and my Bermuda grass has increased, the thought of weeding and preparing my four raised garden beds seemed daunting this fall. Even with the help of my daughter and son-in-law, the task was a little more than we wanted to undertake. So, for the first time in my many years of gardening, I switched to container gardening.

I have planted grape and cherry tomatoes for salads, along with dill, rosemary, three types of basil and two bell peppers. I also have two nice pots of petunias and one pot holding my favorite flowers, stock.

We stacked two cement blocks on top of each other, with a row of seven blocks in length, and capped each end with a stack of three blocks. The open holes of the blocks create an interesting pattern, and narrow rectangular planters rest atop this wall and hold my herbs. At each end, on the higher stacks, there are round bowls of petunias blooming happily.

Down my driveway, I have large pots holding pea pod plants and the tomatoes. I used four-foot-tall sticks tied together and spread in four directions inside the pots for the plants to climb and twist around as they grow taller.

My last large container has a bunch of onion-chives, a combination plant I bought at the Tree Expo, and a rose-scented geranium cutting I was given at the Tree Expo by a fellow garden club member. The leaves really do smell like a rose.

After four weeks, my vegetable garden is growing so fast that I can see the difference each time I go out to water. I think the plants are actually happier in my containers of Miracle-Gro soil with time-release fertilizer than in my heavy clay garden soil, although I amended my raised beds each year before planting. I also added Osmocote time-released fertilizer (14-14-14) to the soil and placed a three-inch layer of gravel in the bottom of each pot to allow good drainage.

I like this new style of gardening because it is easy for me to reach my plants without fear of falling, and best of all, no Bermuda grass! I have to admit that I must use a walker when outside, and gliding along the cement area where my containers are is much easier than negotiating the uneven soil around my raised beds. I can create whatever garden I desire and the limited space encourages me to think more closely about which plants I really want to grow.

If a plant doesn’t live or is doing poorly, it is an easy matter of removing it and adding a new one in its place. Each plant is on display and can be admired for its special beauty. I can closely watch my grape tomato blooms transform into green pearls. They are just getting old enough to begin ripening.

My bell peppers are tipped with numerous white flowers which are attracting bees. I even have a large, black bee which enjoys sipping nectar from my tomato blooms. Another plus is the absence of birds that used to enjoy snipping off my tender young plants in the raised beds. Our four outdoor cats rest in the shade and eye the container garden with a hungry eye, discouraging any marauding birds.

Because my containers are raised off the ground, I don’t have to stoop to deadhead the petunias or inspect my green tomatoes hanging delicately between the leaves. My back definitely thanks me. It is a great pleasure to sit in the shade and admire my garden plants each day, with our family’s Yorkshire terrier sleeping in my lap and a cat or two curled up by my feet. Keeping in touch with nature is one of the many ways to stay young and active.

When frost arrives, possibly by January, my vegetable garden will have given me its harvest and I will replace those plants not frost-hardy with cold-loving ones, such as pots of tulips, poinsettias and daffodils. I can also let the containers remain empty until spring arrives, when I can plant more herbs and flowers.

It is a great way to garden in a small space and is convenient for our winter visitors who can garden now and then leave their containers empty when they travel back north for the summer. In the fall, their containers will be ready for another great gardening experience.

Using large wooden containers or pots, you could even have your own grove of dwarf fruit trees and citrus. I have had a kumquat tree in a large pot for several years and it produces fruit. You do have to change containers as the tree matures and add new soil as the nutrients are used up. A drip line from one pot to the next will allow you to leave your trees for extended periods of time.

The plants I chose require full sun. If you have an area with partial shade, check the tags on the plants to see if they like such an area before you purchase them.

Some annuals which grow well in containers are the marigold, nasturtium, pansy, viola, petunia, primrose, sweet pea, verbena, alyssum, lobelia and lantana. Perennials which do nicely in containers are agapanthus, bird of paradise, carnations, chrysanthemums, geraniums and marguerites.

Bulbs you can grow during our cool months are amaryllis, daffodils, hyacinths, iris, day lilies, ranunculus and tulips. Vines which can be trained up a tall pole or patio pillar are the black-eyed Susan, clematis, jasmine, ivy, bougainvillea and sweet peas.

Succulents which grow well are the agave, aloe, echeveria (hen and chicks), haworthia, kalanchoe, sedum and donkey tail sedum. For a tall, distinctive plant, use one of the many varieties of bamboo.

Herbs to grow are chives, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, summer savory, sweet marjoram, tarragon, thyme, cilantro, basil and dill. Vegetables to plant are cucumbers, eggplant, varieties of lettuce, bell peppers, squash, Swiss chard and tomatoes.

With container gardening, your gardening pleasure can extend long past your ability to weed, hoe and care for a regular garden patch. After more years than I care to count, I still enjoy gardening, just in a new style.

Georgia Bolton is a member of the Yuma Garden Club. She can be reached by e-mail at bowenkaren@ymail.com.