On Gardening/Everyone Can Garden

3-16-98
University Park, Pa. -- Anyone with access to one or more square feet of sunny space can become a vegetable or flower gardener. The front porch, the corner of your patio, or a well-lighted porch can hold a container large enough to have an attractive kitchen garden all summer. Specially-bred container vegetable or flower varieties are well suited to this type of gardening. Such plants also do well if you have only a few feet of garden area.

Many potential gardeners miss all the joy of growing plants because they don't have access to garden soil or space. With a few containers you may be able to grow a much as your neighbor who has a garden patch.

Container size has little relation to growth, except for some of the root crops like carrot and beets that penetrate and spread out.

The real secret to successful container gardening is frequent watering and complete drainage of excess water away from the roots. Prior to planting, make certain there are holes in the bottom or on the side near the bottom of the container. Remember that small containers will tend to dry out faster and will need more attention once the crop is growing and producing.

Fill the container with any of the new lightweight growing media available at garden centers and similar retail outlets. In a container this material drains much better than regular garden soil. Do not place anything such as gravel in the bottom of the container. Gravel has been shown to retard drainage. A small piece of screen over the drain hole will hold in the growing medium while allowing excess water to drain off.

Some brands of growing medium come with added starter fertilizer for your plants. A slow-release fertilizer can be incorporated into the mix to extend its plant-feeding qualities. These mixes can often be used directly from the bag with no other additives needed.

However, I would suggest that you check the drainage properties of any particular brand or batch of growing medium before filling the final growing container. Fill a one or two gallon container with drain holes and water it well. After it stands several hours check to see if the growing medium remains overly wet. The drainage of a growing medium can be improved by incorporating up to 25 percent by volume of a material like perlite.

Container choice is limitless. Use your imagination. Garden centers and hardware stores feature a wide selection of wooden and plastic boxes, baskets and tubs. The specific material, style and shape should be governed by the location of the container when in use. Unless you want to feature the container itself and not the plants I would tend to select a conservative style for your patio garden.

Another advantage to growing vegetables and flowers in containers is that you can move them to better sun exposure or more space as needed. With this thought in mind, don't select containers that might be too large. If your gardening style or crop requires large containers, place them on a dolly for easy movement.

If you combine the correct plant type with the proper growing medium and container size, you can't miss. Many seed companies have developed and bred compact varieties of plants suited for container gardening. Look on the seed packet or ask the grower.

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**Dr. Robert Nuss is a horticulturist at Penn State. He coordinates all extension horticulture programs. He has bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in ornamental horticulture and has been on the Penn State faculty since 1966.