Prairie Moon needs a talkin' to about the seasons
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9 years ago
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years agoUser
9 years agoRelated Discussions
my votts, my votts, my votts, talkin' 'bout my votts!
Comments (18)Susan, I love growing in containers. Even in a non-drought year I get more consistent production from plants in containers because it is easier to keep them well-watered and as long as the soil-less mix drains properly, they won't get won't get waterlogged like plants in the ground can. That's why I have so many containers. This spring I expect to have about 150 containers, and they range in size from 2 gallon pots to a 4'-diameter metal stock tank to similarly-sized (though not as deept) wading pools (I have three of them). I am toying with the idea of growing lettuce in a cattle feed trough that sits up high on legs. That might solve my problem with small critters like baby bunnies, field mice and voles nibbling at greens in the spring. Baby bunnies are very tiny and can get into my garden either through the fence or by squeezing under the gate. It is hard to get mad at a baby bunny because they are just so cute, but I don't like having them eating the lettuce and their othr two favorite plants--pea seedlings and bean seedlings. The current La Nina did not affect our place the way it normally does in summer/fall, so I'm not sure we'll have the usual La Nina drought in 2011. That's sort of irrelevant, though, because we always have long drought periods in summer in southern OK even when it is fairly rainy elsewhere in the state. Even this summer had lots of drought periods although a brief rainy spell in July and then again in September kept the garden going pretty well, although I had to water very heavily in between those two rainy spells. About the only veggie I can think of that is really difficult in containers is medium- to large-sized pumpkins. While it is easy to grow the very small pumpkins or the bush pumpkins in containers, to get nice, big pumpkins you have to have a very large container because large pumpkins have massive root systems, and you have to water heavily daily because the plants guzzle water as the pumpkins get bigger and bigger. I'd love to have my entire garden in containers because it cuts weeding time down to nothing, but with all that I grow, that's never going to happen. Another problem with containers in drought is that the non-stop heat and sunshine heat up the containers and the soil. I get around that by lining up all the containers close together and then piling hay around them as insulation to help keep them cool. And one wonderful advantage of containers is that they can help you get a head start in spring. I usually put my first tomato plants into containers in mid-February and am harvesting tomatoes from those plants by the end of April. Having those first few plants setting fruit helps me stay patient and not transplant my main crop into the ground too early. You also can carry a few plants into fall/winter if you can get the containers into a warm spot at night. Today or tomorrow, I'll be harvesting a couple of handfuls of cherry tomatoes, one bell pepper and a handful of hot peppers from the five big containers I drag into the garage every night. That means I'll have harvested tomatoes and peppers in every month of 2010 from April through December, and that's not too bad. I also grow strawberries in containers. In the ground, strawberries don't stand a chance here because there's too many wild critters who want to eat them, including the ever-present sow bugs and pill bugs. In containers, though, they're easy. I grow them in wading pools, and it is surprising how many strawberries you get from those container-grown plants. I still have trouble with snakes....they like to hang out in the shade of the containers and sometimes in the containers themselves, but in our very rural, very wild part of the state, that's unlikely to change no matter what we do. Dawn...See MoreFeeling a little down about gardening this season
Comments (6)Everybody's right, of course. which means that it's all the more imporant to make & maintain, as pk says, "that little oasis in the concrete, a way station for the hungry and tired". When the wildlife has been reduced to a small percentage of the numbers that once flourished, it's likely that the habitat & food supply have been demolished. That last pair of cardinals needs you to plant big thorny roses & to fill the bird feeder. A little bit off the subject, or maybe not, is the idea of mentoring, of "spreading the gospel" of gardening to help rather than dominate nature. Those of us who grew up when the world was a greener & less crowded place-when you could ride a horse to a friend's house, when cut grass smelled like grass, & when zillions of butterflies took flight with our every step through a pasture-have a lot to pass on to a new generation. Sharing knowledge & skills as well as plants is a powerful way to increase our effectiveness as conservators of our beautiful world. If we can show a friend the value of plants in the food chain, & that friend digs up the grass & plants for our birds & butterflies & pollinators, if we can show our neighbor that poisons are bad & plants & bugs are good for her toddler, & that neighbor throws out her herbicides & plants vegetables & berries, if we can show our brothers & sisters that lawns are high maintenance brats with expensive chemical dependencies & they till up a section & put in an herb garden, that's a step. don't know if it's a big or a little step, but it's a step. & every step counts a great deal when so much is being damaged & so much is being destroyed....See MorePrairie dropseed, allium, and? ... need a reco
Comments (21)I like the old S. iris Butter and Cream because it reblooms again in late summer if the spring flower stalks are cut back. I got Moon Silk which was supposed to be an improved version but it does not rebloom....See Moreprairie dawn, prairie princess, bonica, felix leclerc
Comments (21)mary - I just saw your question! Prairie Princess went through winter without a hitch. She has never gotten up to 4' after 3' last year, and the canes are thin and flexible with not much foliage. Her spring flush was gorgeous with some blooms almost 6" across! She's not a very impressive rose but reliable and does her best to please. I ran across Prairie Dancer this spring at the same place and put her in also. Bonica was a little bloom machine covered in pink. She spread out last year (1st year) and went up more this year. I am happy with her. Felix Leclerc didn't bloom it's first year but bloomed a long time this spring and then put out new growth to one side to equal what it did last year. I haven't even gotten it dead headed yet. My John Cabot still hasn't bloomed this year either. It put on a bit more growth but not that I would call it a climber of any kind. One more year and then it's out of here. I did not have any luck with John Davis or William Baffin climbing either even tho they did not get killed back. I can't say about repeat on any of these as we are now in the high 90s and everything is sulking in the heat, and being eaten by JBs. We go from winter to summer it seems, with extremes of each....See MoreKindness Matters (NE Ohio 6a)
6 years agoKindness Matters (NE Ohio 6a)
6 years agoKarin Black Cat
6 years agoKindness Matters (NE Ohio 6a)
6 years agoKarin Black Cat
6 years ago
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