Temperatures in south metro Atlanta reached into the mid-sixties today reminding me that it's time to order seeds for this year's garden. If you enjoy landscape gardening, there's almost no way to avoid spending hours bending, stooping or working at ground level. The best way to avoid the annual aches and pains in this case is to go with flowering shrubs and trees, and smaller perennials that
return year after year. But giving up the flowering annuals - they last one season - usually means you give up variety and a full color palate in the garden. I've had good success the past few years with a combination of landscape perennials and container annuals. Less work and easier work still resulted in pleasing color and variety.
Last year, I decided to expend that saved energy in planting a vegetable garden in containers. The result exceeded all expectations. We live in the woods with only a few patches of more than dappled sunshine during the growing season. There is a nice eastern exposure by the garage that provides about seven hours of direct morning sun - not a blade of grass at that
spot, unless it's coming up through a crack in the concrete. I put the container garden there in three tiers between ground level and two feet high, planted with cut and come again lettuce, sweet peppers, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and zinnias to aid pollination. The entire plot was in containers up to five gallons in size, and covered about 20 square feet.
Within fifty days, the harvest began with lettuce, then tomatoes, quickly followed by cucumbers and peppers. It lasted into December when the frost finally killed the tomatoes.
If you have a garden or want to start one on a simple and manageable scale, I suggest you give container gardening a try. Many web sites can help, especially those extension service sites maintained by your state's land-grant universities. You'll get some good outdoor exercise, enjoy watching the garden grow, and savor the goodness of your very own crop of pesticide-free vegetables.
Temperatures in south metro Atlanta reached into the mid-sixties today reminding me that it's time to order seeds for this year's garden. If you enjoy landscape gardening, there's almost no way to avoid spending hours bending, stooping or working at ground level. The best way to avoid the annual aches and pains in this case is to go with flowering shrubs and trees, and smaller perennials that
return year after year. But giving up the flowering annuals - they last one season - usually means you give up variety and a full color palate in the garden. I've had good success the past few years with a combination of landscape perennials and container annuals. Less work and easier work still resulted in pleasing color and variety.
Last year, I decided to expend that saved energy in planting a vegetable garden in containers. The result exceeded all expectations. We live in the woods with only a few patches of more than dappled sunshine during the growing season. There is a nice eastern exposure by the garage that provides about seven hours of direct morning sun - not a blade of grass at that
spot, unless it's coming up through a crack in the concrete. I put the container garden there in three tiers between ground level and two feet high, planted with cut and come again lettuce, sweet peppers, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and zinnias to aid pollination. The entire plot was in containers up to five gallons in size, and covered about 20 square feet.
Within fifty days, the harvest began with lettuce, then tomatoes, quickly followed by cucumbers and peppers. It lasted into December when the frost finally killed the tomatoes.
If you have a garden or want to start one on a simple and manageable scale, I suggest you give container gardening a try. Many web sites can help, especially those extension service sites maintained by your state's land-grant universities. You'll get some good outdoor exercise, enjoy watching the garden grow, and savor the goodness of your very own crop of pesticide-free vegetables.
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