A certain genteel madness often comes over new gardeners as they set about deciding what to grow. Giddy with possibilities, they devour dozens of mail-order catalogs, turning down page corners and marking fat circles around the seductive photos; ultimately, agonizingly, they will place orders with several companies, only to have their decisions thrown into sweet turmoil when a new catalog arrives in the mail. Then, a few weeks later, the madness attains a new level, when young plants start showing up at local garden centers. Now the temptations are three-dimensional, with in-your-face color, texture, and fragrance, and it is a strong soul indeed who can resist. “I’ll just get one of those,” they think, “and that, and that...” and soon the shopping cart is spilling over with baby green things.
If you had all the room in the world, and all the time, none of this would matter. You could plant all the seeds in all the packets, and all the transplants, and wait to see what happened. Gradually, through trial and error, you would learn what is successful in your climate and what you really love, and could leave the rest behind with only a small smile of regret.
But as a container gardener you do not have all the room in the world, and you’re probably short on time as well. We want you to enjoy success in your first year. In the limited spaces of container gardens, there is less room for error, so your first decisions have to be well considered.
Your planning doesn’t have to be as formal as it would for a full landscape design (although you may enjoy the process of creating one), but we recommend you do the exercise of putting your thoughts down on paper. First, figure out what you like to eat, what your garden conditions will support, and what your lifestyle will permit; then use that information to put together a garden plan.
If you don’t know where to start, a big fat seed catalog is an excellent reference. Most catalogs organize their inventory of vegetables and flowers alphabetically, so a fast run-through will serve as a good checklist of all the possibilities. Now your task is to narrow the choices down to a manageable number.
The first rule is, Be honest. Do you really like spinach, or do you simply think you should because it’s good for you? If you don’t really enjoy the taste of something, you’re unlikely to feel differently just because you grew it with your own hands, so eliminate from consideration the things you realize you don’t like.
At the same time, you’ll want to leave room for experimenting with new items (see box). Selecting old favorites you know you love, plus new temptations you want to try, will give you a good start on a working list.
Read up on the items on your wish list (in seed catalogs and the individual write-ups later in this book) and compare what the plants need with what you can give them. Key considerations to look for are climate, amount of sunlight needed, and how much time the plant takes to produce its bounty.
For example, many vegetables need at least six hours of sun a day. If your only garden space is a balcony that is blocked from all directions by tall buildings, you’ll have trouble with tomatoes and peppers, but you can create a splendid salad garden with all kinds of gourmet lettuces and Asian greens.
Then there’s the question of weather. If you live where growing seasons are short or summers cool, you might as well forget vegetables that need a long time to mature. This information is spelled out in later chapters and in most catalogs, which tell you how long it takes from the time you sow seed (or set out transplants—read the fine print) until the first produce is ready to be picked, expressed in days, as in “80 days.” Compare that information against your growing season; in the case of a mismatch, you probably should choose something else.
In any garden, deciding what to grow is a balancing act between what you want and what conditions will allow. In a container garden, that balancing act is even trickier because you must also factor in questions of space and size.
This truth you cannot avoid: you have limited space to work with, so you have to make very efficient use of it. We’ve found that one very good way to decide what to grow is to focus on those edibles that are best when eaten absolutely fresh or absolutely ripe, and on those that you cannot readily find in the market.
Another consideration is plant size. You may be extremely fond of a vegetable that is unrealistic for container gardening simply because of its size. If you’ve never seen cabbage growing, you’ll be amazed at how large a full plant is. For container gardening, you would be better off with something like kale, a much smaller cousin. Another example is corn. There’s no denying it’s best when fresh-picked; in fact, country gardeners put the water on to boil before they head out to the corn patch. But the plants are simply too tall for most containers.
Another kind of reality check is also needed, the kind where you must look inward. Container gardening requires more of your day-to-day attention than in-the-ground gardening. In the dead of summer, watering often needs to be done daily. Heavy feeders need a regular regimen of fertilizing. And when the beans and peas are at their peak of production, they really should be picked every day or so.
The most common problem seems to be daily watering. You can help yourself by using self-watering pots, drip systems set on a timer, and water-holding gels (see page 66), but there inevitably comes a time when someone has to turn on the faucet. If you’re out of town often, could someone else fill in for you, perhaps a neighbor or a family member? If not, how about planning a garden around plants that do not need quite so much water—a Mediterranean herb garden, for instance? If you already know you’ll be on vacation when the beans come in, arrange for a friend to pick them, and the vines will still be producing when you get back.
The point is that with a little preplanning, you can accommodate the special attention that container gardening demands—as long as you’re honest about what you can and cannot do. Don’t plant containers you won’t be able to care for.
Mentally or on paper, examine all these factors and follow where they lead:
1. Start with what you know you enjoy eating.
2. Leave some room for experimenting with new things.
3. Eliminate whatever your garden space will not permit.
4. Eliminate whatever your climate and other environmental conditions will not permit.
5. Eliminate whatever your lifestyle will not support.
Now you have a well-thought-out list, but you don’t have a garden plan. For that, you need to consider aesthetics and style (which are covered in the next chapter), and you also need to think about timing: what gets planted when. You owe it to yourself to get the maximum impact from your garden—both in terms of the food it produces and the visual pleasure it gives you—and that comes only with careful planning.
To give you a small taste of what is possible, we’re going to introduce you to a concept that farmers call succession planting: continuously planting seasonal crops in the same space, intermixing fast-growing plants with slower growers, and replacing plants whose production peak has passed with new ones that are just coming into their best season. The goal is to have no bare spots in your container. Succession planting is an ideal way to get maximum use from your containers and to keep them looking their best.
To get you started, here are three plans for multiseason gardens, along with a few alternatives.
START WITH A LARGE CONTAINER, AT LEAST 2 FEET WIDE AND 3 FEET DEEP.
SPRING. In early spring, as soon as weather permits, sow seeds of mustard spinach (or any Asian green of your choice) in the center of the container. Plant seeds of bush snap peas in a circle, 3 inches in from the rim. Between, add transplants of blue and pale yellow pansies.
SUMMER. As the weather turns hot, the peas will stop producing and start to die, and the greens will be past their peak. Cut off the pea vines at ground level (the roots will continue to provide nitrogen to the soil) and remove the remnants of the greens. In late May, or whenever the weather has really warmed up, plant one tomato plant in the center and add a stake for it. The pansies will soon be overtaken by the tomato, but may put on a new set of blossoms in the fall.
The tomato will continue to produce on into the fall, but the leaves at the bottom of the plant will probably turn yellow and in any case they are not doing you any good. Around the first of August, trim them off to create some room for a new layer: direct-sow seeds of Tuscan kale. Thin the young seedlings so the mature plants are about 6 inches apart.
FALL. The tomatoes continue, and the kale gets a good start in their shadow. When the tomato plant is on its last legs, cut it off at the base, leaving the roots in place so as not to dislodge the kale, which will continue to grow until winter and perhaps even on into the spring if your winters are not bitter cold.
Using a narrow trowel or a dibble (a fat, squat planting tool with a pointed end), plant bulbs of yellow tulips wherever there is room. Early next spring, they will come up through the kale—a very pretty color combination.
With succession gardening, you can have an almost continuous harvest in just one container, from early spring to late autumn. As the crops of each season begin to fizzle out, plant new ones in the same space. The above illustrates Succession Garden 1.
IN A BROAD, SHALLOW CONTAINER, ABOUT 8 INCHES DEEP AND 1½ FEET WIDE:
SPRING. Direct-sow seeds of looseleaf lettuce, chervil, and calendula.
SUMMER. Toward the end of May, when the weather and soil are truly warm, transplant one small hot pepper into the center of the pot. Most of the lettuce plants will be ready to come out, and the chervil will be looking pretty sad too, but the calendula may well keep going into early fall. In the space where the lettuce was, sow seeds of cilantro.
FALL. For a fall crop, in early August do another sowing of leaf lettuces, arugula, and scallions (Hardy White Bunching onions).
IN A MEDIUM-SIZE CONTAINER, ABOUT 18 INCHES IN DIAMETER AND AT LEAST 10 INCHES DEEP:
SPRING. Direct-sow spinach beet (perpetual spinach). Sow seeds of Misato Rose Asian radish. In mid spring, add a few nasturtium seeds near the edges.
SUMMER. In mid- to late May, plant two or three seeds (or one transplant) of summer squash. The spinach beet will still be producing, and nasturtiums will be reaching the point where they can spill over the edges; by July the squash will Bigfoot over everything.
FALL. For a fall crop, trim away the biggest and oldest leaves of the squash plant in early August, and sow a mesclun mixture around the edges. When the squash is finished, or when you’ve had enough, remove it by cutting at the soil line and sow another circle of mesclun seeds.
