Intensive Container Gardening

In an effort to keep Salta and her canine pals out of the ground level veggie garden I decided to plant in containers and put a temporary fence in place. It's been pretty effective,  although last week Salta snuck into the enclosure through a whole in the fence and then wasn't sure what to do to get out.

I had another motive for using containers which is to try out intensive gardening in our small urban backyard. After quite a lot of research on containers I came up with the design outlined below. Although the rooftop garden has an irrigation system and self-watering reservoirs I didn't bother with that at ground level. I have planted most things in containers but have put the zucchini, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes right in the ground and will need to water - likely every day. We have a timer for our hose so it shouldn't be a big deal when we're away for extended periods.

Growing holes cut in the sides

I've used a mix of containers, some clay pots, some plastic tubs from a grocery store bakery (again free!). I drilled drain holes in the bottom and drilled some 1.5" holes in the sides. The filled the container to the side holes with Pro-Mix HP and a slow release organic fertilizer to start things off.

Newsprint to stop the soil from failing out

I used a piece of newsprint with an x cut into it to keep the seedling in and soil in place and then filled the container to the tope once I had planted the seedlings on the sides. Then added another plant in the top, generally something that would be a companion to the ones in the sides.

 

Swiss Chard Seedling peeking through Newspaper

So the seedlings peek out the sides of the containers and when they're settled in the start going up - reaching for the sun.













Here's one container fully planted. It should be quite pretty when it fills in with greenery.
















.....and to add some colour to this otherwise somewhat bland posting, here's Mister Cardinal who visits our garden regularly. Also, I was up on the roof this morning and all the plants are doing extremely well, I can't believe how much the tomatoes have grow already and I saw the first signs of buds starting!

May 2-4 Planting

Officially it's The May 24 weekend even though it's only May 17th. Oddly, we in Canada celebrate Queen Victoria's birthday although they don't in England. The May 2-4 is an important date in Canada as it is usually the date when people "open their cottages" for the season, youngster buy and consume a 2-4 (case of 24 bottles of beer) and gardeners can usually safely plant their gardens without fear of frost. Although it was 3C in Toronto last night, I think it's time to start planting if for no other reason than the tomato seedlings I started indoors in March are now too tall for the soil they're standing in. I have had them out in the sun (and rain, lots of rain) for the last 10 days to harden off the seedlings.

Beefmaster tomatoes on the top right planted March 3'14

Martin and I have been repairing containers, replacing the soil. Some of the grow buckets have been on the roof for 3 years and the plastic is getting brittle from all that exposure to the elements. We've had to get a few more buckets from our local Loblaws (thank you very much!) and replaced those that are cracked and broken. Also,  this year I made sure I used PRO-MIX HP (High Porosity) which is supposed to have better water retention properties. Last year I bought BX by mistake. The containers are ready to go and connected to the irrigation system. 

Spinach in homemade Terrarium

The terrarium has worked extremely well for starting seedlings! I started spinach indoors under the grow lamp as well as outdoors in the homemade terrarium. Although they were both planted at the same time, those planted outdoors are larger. No electricity required - just sunshine and a little water.

Spinach seedlings from Indoor (Fluorescent Light)

Overall, the seedling have done very well, both those started under grow lights and those in the homemade terraria. I have only started my own seedlings once and so am pleased with the results and will do this again. 

I'll post some photos from the roof this weekend. Happy May 2-4, one rule though, I have to save the beer for after my final trip up the ladder!