Guest post by Paula Penn-Nabrit
Okay, technically winter has ended and Spring has officially begun, but the weather is still frigid. This is a great time to grab a steaming cup of herbal tea or coffee (my drug of choice!), get comfy and start planning the garden. I’ll post more about companion planting and seed starting and transplanting later, because this post is just about container gardening.
Container gardening is great if you live in an apartment or a condo or a rental property. It’s great if you’re new to gardening and/or have “commitment issues.” Container gardening’s great if you have flexibility issues and crawling around garden beds isn’t an option, and it’s great if you’re running out of space in your garden beds, but still want to plant more “stuff.” Basically, container gardening is just great. It’s perfect for blooming gardeners. And you might be surprised at how easily and how much you can grow in containers.
Think about these three basic areas:
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The Benefits, what I like to think of as temptations;
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The Basics, what I like to think of as the techniques; and
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The Broad view, what I like to think of as trolling.
I’ll start with temptations because I lean toward lazy and need the assurance of tangible benefits to drive me to action. You too? Well then feast your eyes on these pics of yummy, incredibly healthy, pesticide, fungicide and e-coli free veggies and herbs I grew last year in various containers.
I know it’s hard to believe, but I grew flowers, fruit, herbs and veggies in containers and the combination helped draw pollinators (bees & butterflies) which increased growth and yield (but that’s part of the Basics to come later.)
One of my life’s mottos has always been “Food First” (thus solving the mystery of my weight management issues;) so here’s the list of food grown in containers: Carrots; Cherry Tomatoes; Garlic; Onions; Potatoes (Red, Sweet Potatoes and Yukon Gold); Shallots. Food’s better with Herbs so I grew: Basil; Chives; Dill; Parsley; Rosemary; Sage and Thyme. And Flowers just make everything better so I filled pots and planters with Gardenia, Geraniums, Hibiscus, Hydrangea, Marigolds and Roses.
If you are not accustomed to seeing a lot of really fresh food, I hope that you have enjoyed the pictures. My just pulled basket of carrots waiting to be washed opened this post. There’s the container of staked Cherry Tomatoes waiting to ripen, a bowl of Garlic & Shallots, freshly dug Onions waiting to be dried — all of it grown in containers.
Seriously, there are tons of sites with incredible amounts of information on container gardening, so check them out. You don’t have to subscribe or sign-up or commit, just look;)
Before you know it, you will be enjoying the “fruits” of your container gardening labors! (Get it? “Fruits”)
Check out Telos Training, Inc. here and on Facebook for Part2, The Basics/Techniques and Part3, The Broad View with tons of links.
Paula Penn-Nabrit, author of The Power of a Virtuous Woman, is 59 and still challenged by the
struggle between power and submission. Widowed in 2013 after 36 years, 8 months and 22 days,
Paula married Charles Madison Nabrit, “CMadison”, in 1976. Ten years later, after law school,
3 kids and a stint with AT&T, she opened PN&A, Inc. www.nabrit.com/pna , a management
consulting firm. While growing the business they homeschooled sons Charles, Damon and
Evan ‘til college. Paula’s written several books, including Morning by Morning: How We Home-
Schooled Our African-American Sons to the Ivy League, lectured extensively around the world
on the intersection of business ethics, diversity and productivity-and teaches Sunday School.
She’s passionate about PN&A, Inc., about her non-profit, Telos Training, Inc., about organic
gardening, cooking-and eating! Visit Paula @ www.telosinc.org and “Like” Telos Training, Inc.
on Facebook.
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