THE CONTAINER GARDEN–TRANSITIONS FROM SPRING TO SUMMER

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Greenhouse Soiless Mix, Heritage Basket Studio, Miracle Gro Organic Choice potting soil, Pansies, Soil Mixes, The Conainer Garden, Transitions from Spring to Summer, violas

One of the hardest things to do in the container garden is transitioniong from Winter/Spring to the Summer garden. The pansies and violas, with their beaming radiant, smiling faces, looking at you in such a loving manner, that brings you peace and joy to look at them. Knowing this, seeing this and feeling this, makes what you have to do the hardest thing! Lifting the robust blooming plants out of the soil and into the trash bags! However, you must constantly remind yourselves that they will succumb to early summer heat and humidity. Pansies and Violas are cold and cool weather plants that reach their peak and die back during the heat of the summer. They do not fair as well trying to keep the alive in containers as you can do in the open ground. In the garden, where the soil is kept cooler by mulching, the shade of summer plants, where there is not as high of an evaporation rate of moisture from garden soil. Yes the garden dries out, but in the flower beds, you tend to water more. Containers by their very nature of being elevated and the sun hits and heats up the containers much more quickly the demand for watering is much higher in the container garden and plant stresses are much more demanding than in the open ground.

 

When I moved here to the apartment, I was self concious of weight of soil in the containers. The one problem with most people is that they choose containers that are too small, for the luxious blooming plant and the equally large root system that grows to match the top growth, as with hanging baskets, which during summer heat should in most cases be watered twice a day, alas a lot of people do not water until the plants are drooping over the sides of the container. This is why I chose the size containers I chose. I went to Dollar Tree and picked up styrofoam coolers (holds one six pack of cans) for $1.00 each, this takes up some space with in the container, which lightens the load, allows for better drainage, and the roots have a cooler interior space to grow around. The soil mixture I use in my containers, is the greenhouse mix that most all commercial greenhouse operations use, it is “soiless” in that it is based on spaghnum moss, vermiculite and perlite, as well as some added moisture retentive ingredients, it by nature is a sterile mix, to inhibit soil diseases etc. I use it for these properties in the containers, but I also add Miracle Gro potting soil which too is spaghmum peat moss, with other composted materials, so it would not be considered soiless, I have also included this year a new organic soil, that I found at Costco, it is organic and contains Kelp and Alfafa meal. which I always used Alfalfa pellets in the garden to enhance and build up the soil.

The depth of the totes I bought for the containers are key, as it allows ample depth for root growth to move downward, as well as moisture retention deeper down. This system seems to have worked well even with the styrofoam containers inside. I was not sure, when I did this experiement if it would work or not, however I think 4 years of good growth and blooms is proof enough that it has worked.

My plans were to rework the metal balcony rail baskets, to reline them with the cocofiber liners and new potting mix in them as well. I find while these are aestetically pleasing to the eye, they are NOT practical. They are neither wide or deep enough to encourage a good root system. In addition during exceedingly hot days they may require water more than twice per day. I have tried many types of flowers designed for heat and drought. I have found the best, least suffering flowers to be Portulacca (a member of the Purslane family) as you know purslane in the hot, hard, and at time drought ridden vegetable garden, will thrive! This year I looked and last years Portulacca reseeded and there are babies everywhere, alas, I will do nothing to the wire baskets (this year) I had bought Portulacca to put there anyway.

CONTAINER GARDENING 2016

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Cardinal Flower Vines, CONTAINER GARDENING 2016, Dragon Wing Begoniass, Geraniums, Heritage Basket Studio, Lantana, Oila, Passion Flower Vine, Petunia's, Salvia Guarganitica, Supertunia's, Verbena, Watering

 

FLowers of the Balcony

 

Only in the past two years have I been able to grow the Passiflora “Passion Flower Vine” offered as containter grown plants at my favorite Mennonite Greenhouses, Evergrowing Greenhouses – Steve and Stella Showalter & Family

Over the past 21 years I have become somewhat proficient in container gardening, as I have lived in apartments that if i wanted beautiful gardens, the only way was in containers.

In Bridgewater I was able to have more containers, even though the apartments I lived in, both are south facing, in Bridgewater it was due south, without any obstructions, blocking the sunlight. In Elkton there are some trees and the orientation here is more southeast. There is just a bit of difference in the way the sun strikes the containers and the length of day for them. It is enough to say that they all get 6 hours or more of sun and that is considered full sun.

Below, is the new additon this year garden, it is Lantana, a very tough everblooming plant, the lantan are planted aternately with the Supertunia’s which should cascade through the balcony railings as well.

 

Below are the Supertunia’s that will cascade over the balcony railings

 

The key with container gardening that most people do not think about is they usually pick containers that are way too small for the quantities of plants they plant. The root systems of plants grow large and require more space to grow and sustain themeselves during the hottest months of the year, July and August.

 

During the hottest months containers if they are too small, need to be watered sometimes twice a day, morning and evening. If the container is large, there is much more room for the root systems, as well as it takes much more to really dry out a container. I chose deep plastic totes, which I drilled holes in the bottom and used the lids as saucers under the totes. This helps so much in water retention, that your containers even during brutally hot days can go a day without water. Thorough watering is essential, I have witnessed people watering containers that I know the water penetrates a 1/2 to 2 inches, this only causes roots to grow near the surface and makes them even more suseptible to rapid dehydration. You will find thorough watering in larger containers requires much less watering than scant watering in shallow containers.

 

 

Every year I always plant geraniums as they are heat proof, drought tolerant (to a point) and reward you with constant blooms throughout the growing season til cutting frost. I always try to plant something new each year. as well. Just so that it does not become the same redundant thing every year.

Two years ago I wanted to try to have something cascading fromt the top railing, however as nice as these metal clamp on baskets tend to look, they are impracticle as they only are about 6 inches wide and as deep, with coco fiber lining which does not hold water as well as I would like, the newer ones actually come with a water retaining liner for the bottoms of the coco fiber liners. I had tried verbena last year (hence this years volunteers) they did resonably well, but they do require a bit of deadheading. This year I picked up a pack of six Portulacca plants and they seem to love their new environment!

Excuse the pictures of the Portulacca, they are not as nice as I would have liked, the pictures are more to show the container they are in than the flowers in this post.

 

I was rewarded this year with two deep hot pink Verbena that came from seed from last year, total volunteers, as well as a volunteer pale lavender petunia (apparently a gift from a visiting bird) I have 10 geraniums all different colors, as well as 3 Salvia Guaranitica “Black & Blue” Planted around the Oila where they will get a constant supply of water. (Hummingbirds Love Them)!

  

This year the new plantings are a Red Dragon Wing Begonia, Bronze Begonia, Lantana “Flame”, Supertunia “Red” & Supertunia “Limoncello”, Supertunias are billed to be an improve ment over “Wave” petunias, in that Waves tend to die out in the center until seasons end, and Supertunia are to stay growing in billowing mounds, hopefully this is the case as they are planted to billow out throught the deck railings and cascade over the edge!

A MORNING OF BALCONY GARDENING

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A Morning of Balcony Gardening, Black Elephant Ears, container gardening, Elephants Ears, Euphorbia, Geraniums, Lobelia, Margaritte Sweet Potato Vine, Passiflora Caerulea, Salvia Guarganitica, Thunbergia, Verbena

This morning is a beautiful morning clear blue skies, cool in the 40’s  a perfect day for gardening. Yesterday my friend and I was able to locate the Salvia type that I was hoping to find so they are all planted and hopefully will be  blooming before long so that the little hummingbirds will have flowers to drink nectar from.

 

The pots of onions, lettuce and micro greens have been replaced with Creeping Jenny vine, geraniums, the blue and white lobelias have been planted, the 3 elephant ear bulbs, and a black elephant ear plant from the greenhouse planted as well a misty white euphorbia. and a blaze orange thunbergia vine. Part of the fun of planting mixed containers is to see how to plant, knowing that some plants like the elephant ears will be tall and vertical, in the open ground they can become quite massive with the proper care, watering and feeding. When potted they can be a good bit smaller. This season will tell all.

 

The only things left to pot up is one geranium and 4 Verbena plants to cascade over the balcony (well that is the plan) I opted for these over the wave Petunias this year, just to try something a bit different, the colors are striking, ranging from bright cardinal red, hot pink, bright purple and brilliant fuchsia!

My balcony garden is complete now. In the next week or two the last of the violas will meet their demise and give way to the geraniums, this season I can say that I have had blooming plants on the balcony since March. It all has worked as it should, gently over lapping of Spring and Summer flowers gradually giving way to each other so there is no time in which something is not in bloom!  This should take me all the way up to October (depending on how soon Old Man Winter) wants to rear it ugly head and kill everything this year.

 

Unlike an open ground perennial boarder where I was able to have plants either in bloom or berries, something of color right up into November, which then gave way to the grasses for winter interest, the only thing I had always wanted in my garden that I never had time to get, was deciduous Holly a variety that has red twigs (brown until the hard freezes come) then they turn brilliant red. with red berries that the birds do not eat. (Never plant Red Twig Dogwood) which is very beautiful, but highly invasive as it spreads by underground runners. Then for early flowers I never was able to to get the Hellebores in my garden some varieties start to flower in February. So you see with careful planning you can at least in Virginia have or come close to a 12 month garden.

THE AMAZING OLLA WATERING SYTSTEM!

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container gardening, Gardening, Heritage Basket Studio & Chair Caning, OLLA'S Water Conservation System, OLLAS, THE AMAZING OLLA WATERING SYSTEM, water conservation, water savers

 

 

For information on Olla’s Water Conservation System, follow the link below.

Dripping Springs Ollas  Website link

Dripping Springs Ollas  Facebook link

Last year a friend in Charlottesville (Mark Williams)  gave me a clay Olla to try in my container garden, on my 6×10 foot deck at my apartment. At the time it was my sincere intention to write about the Olla and how it worked in a series of posts throughout the season, however I really wanted to get a sense of how it worked and what it took to keep it up, for one season before posting so that I could give a sincere and honest opinion.

Here we are the second year for the Olla, and I am ready to write a series of posts. I will say here and now I have no connection with the sell of Ollas, at all, just being someone that loves gardening and knowing that I needed to be efficient with water where I am, and that I am thankful to Mark Williams for giving me this one to try out as I do love to experiment. I really had no doubt in my mind that the Olla did do what they said it would as I have grown African Violets before and done the wick watering/feeding method before that is an outstanding way to assure African Violets always have what they need, when they need it.

 

What is an Olla? it is a spherical clay vessel, with a shot neck and clay lid that covers the water, the vessel acts much as a cistern does, to store water until it is needed, in the case of the Olla, it emits water through the clay much like wick watering does as the soil and the roots of the plants surrounding it requires the water it slowly weeps releasing the water to be taken up by the plants. As you can tell from experience that during cloudy and rainy periods very little water left the Olla staying full for days, so it does not constantly saturate the ground surrounding it, only as soil and plant requirements dictate.

 

As you will see in my pictures, from this year and last my Olla was not planted fully in the container and it still worked wonders, this year I will be adding more soil to the bottom of the neck, I did not last year not knowing how well it would work and thinking if I need to bucket water that the soil should be lower than the top of the container so that it would not run over, however this year I am thoroughly satisfied that the Olla works wonders.

 

Last year I had planted a Cherry Red Mandevilla vine in the container and two Moonflower vines and two Cardinal vines as well as a two geraniums (OVER KILL) not for the Olla, but the vines grew so prolifically that they took over and the two geraniums succumbed to not light. The Olla passed with flying colors as far as growing vines of decent size in a smallish container does not always work well or the vines are stunted, these vines took over climbing all around the deck rail and the moonflower vine covered the end of my deck and all the way up and covered my upstairs neighbors deck rails. (as the name implies- this is a night blooming vine, blooms open once it is dark)

 

This year that container will have Cardinal Vine, Heavenly Blue Morning Glory and Salvia Guaranitica, this salvia is vastly different from the varieties that smell like cat pee. This variety blooms above the foliage with with dark or medium Cobalt Blue tubular flowers, if you love Hummingbirds and want a flower for them to wine and dine on then plant these around your garden, they absolutely love them! I am planning on planting at least two, as to my astonishment there are about 60 apartments with decks like mine and I am the only person that plants any flowers so was absolutely shocked when I counted 8 Hummingbirds flying around my geraniums and vines everyday! The manager of the apartments asked me if I knew what the other tenants refer to your deck as? NO WHAT? a Jungle? No EDEN!  LOL  

I have gotten off the Olla track now but will post more posts on this wonderful water conserving vessel, personally if I could have more I would. One day I would love to try it in a garden setting in the ground, as I believe tomatoes would be prolific with them as well as for me personally my David Austin Roses.

More posts to come.