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Self Watering Planters
I recently got a copy of Ed Smith≠s revised and improved book on growing vegetables in self-watering planters, The Vegetable Gardener’s Container Bible (Storey Publishing, 2011), and decided that making one of his containers might be a good thing for a bored gardener to do before the gardening season begins.
Ed Smith has boiled down years of experience into simple language that anyone can understand. He recommends using self-watering containers instead of traditional pots because they do a better job of keeping the soil evenly moist- a key to success, particularly with veggies.
His book explains that plants are mostly water, so they need water to stay healthy. They need it for photosynthesis (to manufacture carbohydrates) and to carry soil nutrients throughout the plant. Ed explains that plants do best in biologically active soils, those that are “teeming with mostly microscopic creatures that supply plants with food, creatures that help them to assimilate food, creatures that help protect plants from predation and disease.” And those critters need moisture.
Self watering containers
Water is also needed to cool plants in the heat of summer by the process of transpiration – which is the plant equivalent of sweating. In the process of losing water, “transpirational pull” is created – a force that sucks up water from the ground, bringing along soluble nutrients. Ed’s book explains that “Transpiration is the plant’s substitute for a heart; it is the way a plant moves fluids within itself.” A mature tomato plant in mid-summer can use a gallon of water a day.
Self watering containers have water reservoirs so that plants don≠t dry out quickly – sometimes holding 4 gallons or more. And the bottom line is this: when the soil is too dry, all biological activity stops – both in your plants, and in the microorganisms that nurture and nourish your plants.
The Vegetable Gardener’s Container Bible explains that a light, fluffy soil is essential for growing veggies well in pots. Plant roots and soil organisms need oxygen to thrive, so a fluffy soil does better than a compacted one. Ed’s recipe for success is to make a 50-50 mix of potting soil or peat moss with good quality compost.
The potting mix I bought was a bit heavy with sand, so I modified that recipe a bit: I mixed 12 quarts of potting mix and 12 quarts of compost with 2 quarts of perlite, a heat-expanded mineral that looks like bits of white Styrofoam. Perlite holds water on its surface and keeps the mix fluffy but adds no nutrients.
Ed’s book suggests that you can offer a well balanced diet of plant nutrients by adding blood meal, rock phosphate and green sand to the mix. Unlike chemical fertilizers, these nutrients are taken up slowly by plants, so your plants get a nice even supply. He suggests a third of a cup of each for each 40-quart batch of planting mix. Me? I add a cup of Pro-Gro, an organic fertilizer that has all those ingredients, and a quarter of a cup of limestone.
Big self-watering containers can be expensive. A good quality 40-quart container with a 4-gallon reservoir that will be adequate for a big tomato or 4 peppers will cost you about $40. But you can make your own container if you prefer, and I’ve done so for a fraction of that cost. Here is what I did, using Ed≠s good descriptions and photos.
I bought an 18-gallon plastic storage bin that came with a lid, and a 10-foot section of 4-inch vinyl downspout (enough for 4 bins). I made marks on the inside of the container at the top of the water reservoir, 5 inches from the bottom of the bin, and measured the width and length. I wanted to cut the lid to fit inside the bin at the top of the reservoir, so I transferred the measurements onto the lid and drew lines to guide me. I used tin snips to cut the lid, which, admittedly, is a bit of hard work (a jigsaw might work better).
At the lumber yard where I bought the downspout I asked a fellow to cut some 5-inch pieces for me with the “chop saw” used to cut lumber. He accommodated my strange request and I ended up with perfectly cut pieces (I could have used a hack saw to do the job at home).My planter needed 6 pieces of 5-inch downspout (spacers) to adequately support the lid – now the base of the soil compartment – sitting inside the bin.
To wick the water up into the soil compartment, I cut 2 holes in the lid (each hole a little smaller than the downspout I used as spacers). I attached two spacers right below the holes and later filled them with potting mix. To attach the spacers to the lid, I drilled small holes in the lid and the spacers, and wired them in place. That prevents them from moving. The wicking spacers are perforated – each has a dozen three-eighths-inch diameter holes drilled in it. Lastly I cut a fill-hole in the side of the bin at the top of the water reservoir.
The Vegetable Gardener’s Container Bible is full of good information on growing specific vegetables √ including unlikely candidates for containers like sweet corn and artichokes. I may grow an artichoke or some hot peppers in containers this summer, and then see if I can overwinter them indoors as both are perennial in warm climates. And in the meantime, I≠m making more containers. Give it a try!
Early Spring Chores
Spring in Cornish Flat
Spring in Cornish Flat comes in fits and starts. Warm sunny days are followed by cold rain – or even by snow. Spring is technically here, and I have started a few seedlings indoors (onions, artichokes, peppers, some early greens) but I will wait until April to plant most things indoors. No sense in babying tomatoes for 12 weeks – 8 is enough.
Each year the snowplows dump lots of sand and road dirt onto my lawn. I try to shovel the dirty snow back onto the road before it all melts. I do this because it is easier to shovel it now than rake it later, once it has all settled into the grass. And dormant grass in the early spring is susceptible to being damaged by my rake. It≠s important to wait until the grass is no longer dormant and the soil has dried before raking the lawn.
I haven≠t started pruning fruit trees yet, though the time is ripe. I wait until most of the snow is gone before pruning mainly because it’s hard to set up my ladder and carry off the branches in deep snow. Since I prune professionally, I can’t afford to wait too long – I need to finish all pruning before the buds open up in late April or early May. There is still knee-deep snow around my trees, so I haven’t gotten started anywhere.
I took my bucket of kitchen vegetable scraps down to the compost pile recently and found that the snow was deeper than I≠d thought – I fell through the compacted crust up to my knees. That happened despite some rain and warm days in the preceding days. Spring technically arrived on March 20, but winter in my neighborhood is being a bit feisty.
composting
Many gardeners give up on composting during the winter months. Not me. I keep a 5-gallon pail under the kitchen sink and I don≠t find that it gets odiferous even though I only empty it once every week or two in the winter. Still, my compost pile is far away, and I’ve been wearing snow shoes to get down there. My compost pile is enclosed by 4 wood pallets, the kind that freight is delivered on, and the winter’s accumulation – mixed with layers of ice and snow – is nearing the top.
During the cold months all the microorganisms that would normally breakdown the vegetable matter are resting. No matter. When warm days arrive, the critters will get to work. But unless the compost pile has the proper mixture of ingredients, moisture and temperatures it is a very slow process – a couple of years until it’s ready.
The bacteria and fungi that break down compost need both carbon-and nitrogen-based materials. Good sources of carbon are leaves, hay and most brown matter. Things with lots of nitrogen are green leaves or grass clippings, manure, vegetable scraps and coffee grounds. A little nitrogen added to a compost pile will help to get quite a bit of carbon-based materials to break down.
There are many kinds of microorganisms in a working compost pile. Aerobic bacteria are the workhorses of the process; they require oxygen to live and reproduce. Anaerobic bacteria are the “bad boys”. If your compost smells like sulfur or rotten food, you have bacteria that thrive in an environment that has little or no oxygen. Some gardeners turn their compost piles to aerate them, or use a harpoon-like “compost hook” to create pathways for air. I rarely do either, though I did buy one of the harpoons to see if it made a difference. I didn’t see that it was a worthy investment.
Later this spring, I’ll take a garden fork and poke around in my compost pile. If it’s too wet, I’ll add dry hay or leaves to help dry it out and let in more air. Or I may even turn the pile, moving unprocessed matter to one side and adding some aged manure to speed up the process. At the bottom of the pile there should be some good old compost to use in the garden.
early bulbs
This is also a good time to see where you need to plant spring bulbs next fall. Take some pictures or place tags to show where the snow melts off first, and where you need some early bulbs. I like having early bulbs to herald spring: the earliest white snowdrops (Galanthus spp.), rich blue and purple scilla (Scilla siberica) and glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa luciliae).
Crocus
Crocus are good, too, and some can be quite early – though nothing is as early as snowdrops. Actually, winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) flowers can be almost as early as snowdrops. They’re low yellow flowers, though they don’t do very well for me here in Cornish Flat. Instead of multiplying like my snowdrops, they seem to disappear one-by-one over the years. I need to replant some this fall.
In any case, don’t be discouraged by late spring snows or slushy weather. The sun has real strength now, and it won’t be long before we are in our gardens.
Planting Seeds Indoors
This week I started my artichokes and peppers on 3/15. I planted them in 6-packs using a 50-50 mix of standard organic potting mix from Moo-Doo, and compost. The compost provides some extra nutrition that peat-based starting mix does not have.
I also started arugula for early greens in my salads, and a new (to me) green or herb called Saltwart. I did one flat of seedlings, and placed them on an electric heat mat designed for the job of warming the soil. Today, 3/20, is the first day of spring and the two greens are up!
Today I am starting spinach seeds indoors in soil blocks. See either of my books, The Vermont Gardner’s Companion or The New Hampshire Gardener’s Companion to learn more about how to do this. Both are available at bookstores, or from my Web site, www.Gardening-Guy.com.
soil-blocks
Meanwhile, my onions and leeks planted indoors on March 1 are up and looking good. The shallots, a variety called Prisma, did not germinate well, or are very slow in germinating.
Planning and Designing a Serenity Garden
I know that spring is on its way, but in my garden spring plants are still buried deep in snow. So I spend time reading and thinking about what I might do later when the darn snow finally goes away. Even if you are starting to see bare earth, it is still too early to do much. I recently attended a nice talk at the Vermont Flower Show by garden designer Jeanne Daniele of Barre Town, VT. She spoke about how to design a “Serenity Garden” and I≠d like to share some of her ideas.
Jeanne Daniele defined a Serenity Garden as an “escape room” – a place where you can go to relax and get away from the outside world. She noted that small spaces are conducive to serenity, and that you will want design something that is quiet and secluded. Begin now, she said, by measuring the space you wish to develop and doing some basic drawings.
If you live on a busy street, Jeanne suggested screening your serenity garden so that you have privacy. Plants are the ideal screen, but they take time to fill in and really do the job. She suggested a fence as a temporary measure – a wooden stockade fence 8-foot tall will certainly do the job. My suggestion? Plan your garden behind the house and away from the road so you won’t need a fence.
But Jeanne said you can plant visually interesting shrubs like lilacs or forsythia in front of evergreen trees to create privacy over the long term. She suggested using 2 rows of plants spaced so that plants in the second row are staggered in such a way as to fill in the visual gaps of the front row.
A thick hedge will do much to minimize the obtrusive sounds of cars and trucks on the street. She also suggested that you can create pleasant sounds to mask the noise of the street. A burbling, re-circulating water feature will create gentle sounds. She also noted that you can install speakers and play a tape of pleasing sounds. I vote for natural sounds, and Jeanne did note that a nice serenity garden can attract birds that will add to the ambience.
Clutter is the enemy of serenity, according to Jeanne. A lovely flower bed filled with dozens of blooming flowers may not enhance your sense of calm if the pattern is too busy. Select just a few colors and types of flowers, and grow them in quantity. Instead of having lots of small clumps of brightly colored flowers, have fewer, larger clumps. Blues, grays and greens are relaxing and soothing. Hot pink or red? They might be lovely flowers, but they can be visually jarring. Plant them elsewhere if you need them.
Where do we go to relax? For many of us it is to the beach or a lake. That makes sense in her framework: there is a vast expanse of blue or green water, and very little clutter. There is sand or rocks, water and sky. Very relaxing. Think of that model as you design your serenity garden.
Repetition is relaxing, too. Forests can be very serene, in part because there is the repetition of tree after tree as far as the eye can see. If you want to develop a portion of your property to incorporate a wooded area, get rid of the clutter. By that I mean get rid of the shrubby, weedy undergrowth and prune off low branches. I find visiting cathedrals very relaxing – they are quiet and have high ceilings. So I like to prune off branches up to 20 feet if I can, creating that same feeling.
Jeanne Daniele explained that the texture and shape of leaves can affect your mood, too. She said that round, fuzzy leaves are very relaxing, but that pointed, shiny leaves are much less so. Most perennials only bloom for a couple of weeks, so selecting plants with attractive foliage is important – the leaves will be there all summer, long after the flowers have faded and gone.
Another suggestion she had was to enclose the space of your serenity garden and have a defined entry point. A gate or an arbor tells visitors that they are entering a special place. We tend to feel most at ease when we have our backs to a wall and can see everything that is entering our space. “It gives us a feeling of reassurance and protection from the outside world,” she said.
Relaxing Space
In order to have a truly relaxing space we need to have a good place to sit down. You will want something truly comfortable. Stone is cold and hard, so put wooden Adirondack chairs or nice recliners for yourself and your loved ones – or a hammock if you are so inclined.
I find that shade is important for me – after working in the vegetable garden I like to have a cool shady spot to have a cold drink and relax before tackling the next project.
Lastly Jeanne suggested that your serenity garden be low maintenance. If you have to prune and weed constantly, you have the wrong plants, she said. Shady areas are generally less weedy, but select your plants with care to find ones that take care of themselves. Plant densely and mulch to keep down the weeds.
So take some time now to think about creating a special spot, a place where you can relax in serene surroundings.
