WSU Master Gardeners

There is a lot of talk these days, urging us to ‘join a short food chain’, meaning to eat food grown as close to home as possible. There are studies showing that food that has traveled hundreds of miles from farm to your plate has fewer nutrients than those you can purchase from your local farmers. Better yet, you can grow at least some of your own food. The work of growing your own food contributes to your health long before you sit down to eat it.

Still, many of us do not have enough land to grow a substantial garden, yet most of us have enough space outside our door for a container or two. Hunky terrace barrels, rustic baskets, hanging pots all make suitable container gardens as long as you choose a suitable plant or combination of plants for the pot. Choose containers that are at least one gallon in size for herbs and salad greens. For larger plants such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and cucumbers, select containers that are at least three gallons in size.

Wash the pots well in warm water and bleach (1 cup bleach in 1 gallon warm water.) Don’t use garden soil, use a good sterile potting mixture to fill the pot and choose plants with a bushy, compact growing habit. Check the plant label or seed packet, most will say if they are suitable for containers. Of course, if you have a really huge container, you can grow just about anything in it. Your container plants will require a more watchful eye and more frequent watering and fertilizing than plants living out in a typical garden.

Whether you have a few pots of herbs or a whole collection of containers with a myriad of vegetable plants, you will be sure to enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Do you have questions for WSU Master Gardeners? We will try to answer as many questions in future articles as possible. E-mail: twietl@co.wahk-iakum.wa.us Or call: 795-3278.

Editors note: the last WSU Master Gardeners article published on April 10 was written by Joyce Ower.