Easy Gardening Project: Salad Garden in a Container
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Photo Credit: Ajith_chatie, Flickr Creative Commons Attribution License.
So, you're interested in gardening, but the idea of commiting yourself to maintaining a vegetable garden all summer is intimidating. Or maybe you have a garden already, but you'd like a little extra space to grow in. Either way, the solution to your problem is ... container gardening!
One of my favorite ways to get people started in gardening is to get them started with a container or two. The idea of maintaining a few pots is much less overwhelming than the thought of taking care of a whole garden as far as most new gardeners are concerned. And if you're a mom, chances are good that you've already got plenty going on! You can still grow your own food, though, and here is an easy container garden plan to get you started.
Grow Your Own Salads
If you love your salads, you'll love them even more when they're coming fresh from your garden. You'll need three pots for this garden: a windowbox or other wide pot or container, and two containers that are at least ten inches deep, and at least 12 inches across.
What to Plant:
- In the windowbox, sow seeds for mesclun. You can simply start snipping lettuce from the pot once it gets about three inches tall, and you should be able to get several harvests before you have to sow fresh seeds. You can find seed for mesclun mixes in any nursery; they come in many fun flavor combinations.
- In one of the deep pots, plant a tomato plant. While you can theoretically grow any tomato in a container, you want to avoid having to stake or cage, so it's best to look for varieties that are specifically adapted to container growing, such as 'Patio,' 'Tom Thumb,' or 'Micro-Tom.' Many garden centers now sell hanging baskets with tomatoes in them -- this is a good solution, too!
- In another of the deep pots, plant a cucumber seedling. You're going to want to look for "bush" varieties rather than typical vining cucumbers. Bush varieties do well in containers, and most nurseries carry seedlings of at least one variety of bush cucumbers. If cucumbers aren't your thing, you can plant a pepper seedling in this pot instead; any variety of pepper will grow well in a container.
Caring for Your Salad Garden
The biggest thing to watch out for with containers is proper watering. Containers tend to dry out faster than gardens planted in the ground, so you'll want to check every day to see if they need water. Stick your finger into the soil -- if the top inch is dry, it's time to water.
As far as fertilizing goes, give everything a diluted (1/4 strength, according to the directions on the package) feeding of fish emulsion every week. This will keep your veggies growing happily and producing well. If you can manage to get your hands on some worm castings or vermicompost, you can also add a thin layer of it to the surface of the soil in your containers.
Keep an eye out for pests and diseases. The main thing to look out for is powdery mildew on your cucumber plant. This looks exactly like what it sounds like: a powdery film on the suface of the leaves. I've found it to be less of a problem in container gardens, but it's still definitely worth watching out for. If you find signs of it, try one of these natural homemade sprays to control it.
Before you know it, you'll be harvesting salads from your own garden. And if you're trying to get your kids to eat more veggies, it's amazing what happens when they have a hand in growing them --- I've found my kids plucking mesclun leaves and cherry tomatoes and eating them right in the garden.
Three pots. You can do this! If salads aren't your thing, I'll have more themed container garden ideas for you here on Parentables this week.
