#1027 - Container Gardening for Spring

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

RK1027cocidocontainergardeningforspring022812.mp3

With March coming in a few days, we can't help but think about the return of Spring.   And for many of us, that means we start thinking about our gardens.   Growing our own food has become popular recently, even in the middle of the city where space is at a premium. 

First, the infrastructure:  containers, soil, fertilizer.   Large pots, planters, or purpose designed containers are now available and are easy to find.   Good potting soil mixed with compost, manure, or leaf mold will be a superb fertile medium for your plants.   Such rich soil will give you most of what you need, but vegetable specific fertilizers are available to supplement the soil.   Be sure your containers are pierced at the bottom to allow for drainage.   A little gravel at the bottom of the soil is also a great idea.

The question of what to grow is purely personal, but heavy bearing plants are the key to good sustained yields.   Peppers are almost all marvelous, and the available varieties are mind-boggling.   Small cherry tomatoes have abundant yields, as do some of their larger brethren.   Heirloom varieties are super abundant now, and a joy to work with.   Squash, particularly smaller varieties are a happy choice, as are beans, cucumbers and smaller melons.

For the serious gardener, or ambitious beginner, we recommend the D. Landreth Seed Company catalog available at www.landrethseeds.com.   This year's edition contains a detailed two page spread offering dozens and dozens of vegetable varieties specially chose as container worthy specimens.   It's the best investment you can make.