Tag Archives: container gardening

astia zucchini blossom

Wordless Wednesday: Astia Zucchini

April 17, 2013   Feature, Garden, Growing Vegetables, Vegetable Garden

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astia zucchini blossom

Astia zucchini blossom

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Book Review: Small Space Container Gardens

May 21, 2012   Book Review, Garden, Growing Vegetables, Outdoors

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Small-Space Container Gardens By Fern Richardson – Timber Press, Incorporated (2012) – Paperback – 224 pages – ISBN 1604692413. $19.95.

Small-Space Container Gardens by Fern Richardson

Fern Richardson brought her blog, Life on the Balcony, to print. I was interested in this book as a guide while I learn more about growing in containers on my back porch and in new perennial gardens. Living in USDA Hardiness Zone 4b, there are plants I really want to grow but that won’t tolerate the cold winter. I better understand how to use containers for over wintering and which plants I’ll have to store in the cold cellar for winter hibernation. There are a lot of suggestions for containers along with proper placement of both plants when filling containers.

My favorite section is Grow more, Eat more. As a former market farmer, growing food is near and dear to my heart. I was glad to see that Richardson included a lot of information on vegetables and herbs. Edible Vines conveyed the ease of growing food. I was surprised to see Fruit Trees and Shrubs included in this beautiful book. I wouldn’t have thought of apple trees or raspberry canes for small-space growing.

There’s a lot of beautiful photography and it made me want to pick up the book often. The huge font that fills half pages and leaves the remaining half blank was distracting but doesn’t detract from Richardson’s extensive knowledge and love of small-space growing. Overall, the book has been extremely helpful to me.

 

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Container Gardening

April 9, 2012   Maine Outdoors

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The Bangor Garden Show was nice. The audience for my presentation was great! People were taking notes fast and furious and asked great questions during and after the presentation. It was encouraging to look into the audience and see people truly paying attention. I was having a great time, and then it was over. The show is small but nice. A few years ago the displays filled the floor of the Bangor Auditorium and the vendors, speakers and interactive programs filled the Civic Center. This year, the Auditorium was full but it was with vendors and displays, and speakers were in the back corner of the food court. The economy has been a big blow to the show.

I’ll be adding a lot of containers to my garden this year and picked up a few ideas at the show. My favorites were vegetables (of course) in a variety of containers. They were beautiful!

Cool weather greens are beautiful in this window box.

Need a filler around pots? Mizuna, tatsoi, red and green lettuce and other greens are pretty and edible.

Tatsoi, mizuna and lettuces fill in around a container.

I’m happy to settle back into my normal routine this morning. Potato leek soup is simmering on the stove right now. I’ll move it to the cook back corner of the wood stove to keep it warm for lunch. It’s going to be a cool, damp, rainy, gray week through at least Thursday. My column is due today, and I’m three weeks behind in class. I won’t be leaving the homestead until Wednesday afternoon when I travel to Augusta for the annual BOW meeting. On Friday I’ll be at Unity College for the Unity College Sportsmen’s Conference and Wild Game Dinner.

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An Update on the Seedlings

March 3, 2012   Maine Outdoors

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Remember the Astia zucchini seeds I started in pots on February 7? They’re doing very well. I’m impressed with this container variety so far. This is one of those plants today, March 3. Blossoms are forming on a healthy, sturdy plant.

Astia is a variety of zucchini well suited to container growing.

Portuguese kale is also doing well.

Portuguese kale, to be transplanted into a high tunnel in a few weeks

All of the seedlings are thriving. These two happen to be my favorite, at least for today. Super Bush tomatoes transplanted well into 2″ pots. They’ll go into 3″ pots and then into their permanent 18″ pots and a high tunnel.

I’ve started tomato and pepper seedlings.

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Seedlings!

February 23, 2012   Maine Outdoors

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Super Bush Tomato Photo Courtesy of Renee's Garden

I started vegetable seeds on February 17. For northeastern Maine that’s terribly early for Bush Slicer Cucumbers, Astia Zucchini, and Super Bush tomatoes.It’s early even for cool-weather loving Tronchuda Beira, a Portuguese kale.The kale will be transplanted into one of the high tunnels for an early crop. There’s a spot in the northeast corner that stays cooler than the rest of the tunnel. It should do well there for several months. I’ll roll sides up on the tunnel if it’s going to be too warm.

I grew Bush Slice in 2011 but lost the plants to late blight. This year I’m going to keep at least some of the plants in a high tunnel and one in a container that I can either leave on the back porch. The plants were beautiful with dense stems that held them upright without staking, at least until they stopped growing and died.

The kale seeds were the first to germinate. I was surprised to find them up on February 19. The cucumbers and zucchini were up on February 20. These are fresh, hardy seeds! All of the seeds except the kale were on a heat mat and under a dome; my house gets chilly at night if no one gets up to tend the fire. The added warmth kept them cozy during the day. Surprise! Four days after planting, the tomato seeds were up. I wasn’t expecting to see them for several more days.

There’s still 4″ of snow on the ground. It rained today, making the ground a layer of ice. We’re going to have five to six inches of snow tomorrow. It’s spring in the high tunnels. I’ll spend time soon getting caught up here and will post photos of the high tunnel I’ve been working in. Growth is still very slow but it’s noticeable.

These Portuguese kale seedlings germinated overnight.

Astia Zucchini, barely showing

 

Astia zucchini

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