Is It Wet Enough?

So here we are the week of rain following Beryl moving into NE Florida and I am going to talk about watering your patio or container gardens. Like we haven’t had enough water over the past four days!

Proper watering and when to water is essential for a successful container garden. However, poor drainage will slowly kill the plants.

Compost can help with drainage issues for strawberry plants.

A good rule of thumb (actually finger) is to push your finger into the soil up to the first knuckle, if it feels dry – water, if it feels cool and sticks to your finger – don’t water. That was easy enough, right? Well, I have to admit there is a little more to it than that.

Watching the weather is essential to watering as well, we not only need to watch for high heat days and rainy days, but cloudy windy days as well. You will need to water more on cloudy windy days than on normal sunny days.

We need to mind what time of the day we water as well for best results. The best time to water is in the early AM hours; trying to avoid wetting the leaves (this isn’t always possible). Watering early in the morning will allow the leaves to dry in the warmth of the sun before the high heat of the day comes. Watering in the high heat of the day can damage the leaves and watering late-day promotes fungus and disease, because leaves remain wet through the night.

Several friends have asked how often they should water and honestly I cannot tell you that because there are too many variables to consider. The amount and frequency a plant needs is determined by the plant itself, the type of container it is planted in, the weather, location and the construction of the container as well.

I have read many books and magazines that say to water containers daily, but I have found that this is not accurate. There are many plants who are high water plants that in the heat of the summer will need to be watered once sometimes twice a day, that is why you need to check on your plants in the morning and in the evening so determine the plant’s needs. Some containers will absorb heat and thus the soil will dry quicker and daily watering might be necessary. As I stated above, cloudy windy days take a lot out of a plant, so that’s another example where you might need to water more often.

There are containers now that are self-watering and so your plants will not need to be watered daily if you use these kinds of containers. I truly enjoy my self-watering containers and plan on purchase more as my budget permits.

In addition to self-watering containers there are other things that can aid you in not needing to water twice a day or daily. Water-holding gels are becoming popular for use in container gardening. These should be incorporated into the soil mix before planting.

Adding mulch on top of the soil mix will help to reduce water loss and prolong those daily watering sessions. Compost, straw, pine needles, grass clippings, shredded bark and moss are all acceptable for your containers.

The long and short of it is I find that using the finger test is the best and easiest for me. There are those who use the drip irrigation method, I personally have not tried it because I like on the third floor of my building and it’s not practical. However, I will read up on it and make that a blog entry for y’all.

                                     Example of drip irrigation.

I hope this has been helpful. Let me know what you think or if you have any questions.

Dianna J

Sunshine Blessed Sunshine!

One of my favorite hymns at church is There is Sunshine in My Soul Today and every time I go out to my patio garden I find myself humming this song.

The first verse of that hymn reads:

There is sunshine in my soul today,

More glorious and bright 

than glows in any earthly sky,

For Jesus is my light.

Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine

When the peaceful happy moments roll

When Jesus shows his smiling face,

There is sunshine in the soul.

I often think that my plants, if they could sing would sing this hymn, because veggies love sunshine, blessed sunshine and that's what we need to talk about today.

Most vegetable plants need 6-8 hours of direct sun to grow their best. However, leafy crops such as lettuce, cabbage, greens, spinach and parsley can tolerate more shade than root crops such as beets, turnips and onions. Fruit bearing plants, such as cucumber, peppers, tomatoes and eggplant need the most sun of all. 

One major advantage to gardening in containers is that you can place the vegetables in areas where they can receive the best possible growing conditions. If you are not sure how many hours of full sunlight the area you are considering gets you have need to do one of two things; take the time to watch the area and time how long it gets direct sun or purchase a sun calculator to get the most accurate number of hours.

If you live on the East coast and can put your containers on the east side of your apartment or home where they are not shaded you should be getting 6-8 hours of direct sun.

You will also need to take into account the size of the plant as well. You do not want to plant a tall vegetable in a pot in front of a plant that is shorter as the taller plant will shade the other one and you will not get the best results.

We need to thing about heat as well. With sun comes heat and heat can have some serious negative impact on your vegetables.

Soil temperature is key, if the soil is too cold the seeds and plants will not grow and if it’s too hot the roots can cook causing the plants to fail. 

The ideal temperature of soil to successfully grown plants most plants in containers are no lower than 60 degrees and no higher than 80 degrees. Since there are exceptions to this make sure to check the package to see what temperature is best for the plants you want to grow.

Remember the soil will become the same temperature as your growing space. If we have record high temperatures the soil can become too hot and plants will need shaded for part of the day or moved to a cooler area. 

If we have record low temperatures the soil temperature will drop and you will need to cover or bring your plants inside. 

You can check the soil temperature in your containers with a meat thermometer so that you can do what is best for your plants. 

We are lucky to live in North Florida where we have degrees of heat all year round and because of that we can also grow year round; below is a list of common crops that can be planted each month in North Florida.

THINGS YOU CAN GROW YEAR ROUND IN NORTH FLORIDA

January – beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, Chinese cabbage, mustard, bunching onions, English peas, potatoes, radishes and turnips.

February - beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, collards, endive/escarole lettuce, mustard, bunching onions, parsley, English peas, potatoes, radishes and turnips.

March – snap beans, pole beans, Lima beans, beets, carrots, celery, collards, corn, cucumber, eggplant, lettuce, okra, English peas, southern peas, peppers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, summer squash and tomatoes.

April – cantaloupes, cucumbers, eggplants, kohlrabi, sweet potatoes, summer squash, tomatoes, turnips and watermelons.

May – Lima beans, eggplant, okra, southern peas, and sweet potatoes.

June – Lima beans, eggplant, okra, southern peas, and sweet potatoes.

July - Lima beans, eggplant, okra, southern peas, peppers, and watermelon.

August – broccoli, cauliflower, collards, bunching onions, and turnips.

September – snap beans, pole beans, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, endive/escarole, lettuce, cucumber, bulbing onions, bunching onions, radishes, and summer squash.

October – beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, Chinese cabbage, collards, kohlrabi, bulbing onions, radishes and spinach.

November - beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, collards, kohlrabi, bulbing and bunching onions, radishes and spinach.

December - beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, Chinese cabbage, bulbing and bunching onions and radishes.

This above information came from the Florida Times Union in 2011. I started this year testing to see if these plants really can grow in the different months. 

In January, I planted broccoli, cabbage, carrots, and radishes. We harvested and enjoyed all we grew already from January. In February, I planted collards, endive/escarole lettuce, and radishes, again we enjoyed all we grew already. In March, I planted almost everything on the list and we have harvested and enjoyed almost all of what we planted. Some were lost to bugs. :0(

Over all though I think the list is very accurate and we can have success by following this planting list. So there you have it, sun and heat two very important components to having a successful patio or container garden.

Hope this information is helpful. Leave me a comment or a question. 

Dianna :0)

What Do I Plant In?

Gardening can be an excellent way to save money, eat healthy, and incorporate more vegetables into your diet. 

The problem with gardening is many people do not have the space or do not live where they can put in a garden that is why patio or container gardening is a great way to garden.

I have lived in apartments for 22-years and have been container gardening for about 5-years now on my apartment patio or balcony, so I know it can be done and done well. I started with herbs, moved to peppers, then to many different veggies.

Recently in the news they said that gardening is the most expensive hobby at this time. I don't believe that unless you are someone who is going out and spending a lot of unnecessary money on items that are truly not necessary to the needs of the plants you are growing.

There are very few things you need to start a patio or container garden. These things are containers, sunlight, water, healthy soil and plants. Over the next few blogs we will talk about these things and then expand from there.

Let’s start with containers. You can use almost anything to plant in, they can be as cheap as can be or as expensive as you want; that is one of the greatest things about container gardening. You literally can grow almost anything in a container as long as it can accommodate the needs of the plant.

You can use plastic, glazed ceramic, wood or self-watering containers. I have seen people use toilets, sinks, trash cans, bushel baskets, bird baths; myself I have used in the past a fish tank that had a leak. I have also seen beautiful and expensive stone planters. You can even purchase “soil socks” that have the perfect soil mix inside a net-type material. You just poke holes, plant your seeds or starter plants and water.

This photo shoes a variety of pots with different plants in them. Most are herbs so they don't need large containers.

This pot is filled with herbs as well and is a very pretty example of beauty meeting practicality.

Two great examples of using space well and re-using old items. Above are rain gutters filled with different varieties of lettuces, herbs and onions. Below is an old over the door shoe holder being used to hold plants. Just fill the pockets with dirt and stuff in the plant!

Below are two examples of using old buckets to grow your veggies in. Don't fill the land fill, re-use for an easy and cheap container idea.

When I saw this photo, I knew I had to use it!! Yes, you are seeing a car being used as a container for a community garden. Just too funny!!

The next four photos are of my self-watering patio garden container that I purchased at Home Depot. The container is 2' X 2', is on wheels for easy moving and has a water reservoir that you fill by pouring water into the black tube you see on the one side. I loved it so much I went back and bought a second one.

You are looking at romaine lettuce and flat leaf Italian parsley in this container.

This container had tomato and peppers in it. This is one of my partial failures. The tomato plants grew so big that I had to move the pepper plants to a new container and I only got a few tomatoes off the plants. Not the containers fault, but the gardeners fault.

Now that you got the idea that you can use almost anything to grow your veggies in lets talk about the plants needs. Although you can grow a veggie in almost anything that doesn't mean that you put 8 tomato plants and 6 pepper plants in a 2' X 2' container like I did. Plants need room to grow and I didn't let mine have room.

Things to keep in mind are that the larger your container, the easier to maintain, but the more difficult to move. So we need to choose where we are going to put a pot before we fill and plant in it. Plants grow toward the sun, so you will need to rotate the plant for even growth. You need to think about the size of the plant at its adult size, not at the seedling size. If you want to plant corn (and you can) or tomatoes which you know are tall plants, do not put them in the container in the front of all your other containers!

The chart below will help with choosing containers; the gallons are a minimum and not a maximum. If the plant you want to grow is not on the chart look for the plant type or a plant similar and use it as a guide, i.e., broccoli and cauliflower would both be a similar plant, so if I wanted to plant a cauliflower I would put one plant in at least a 2 gallon container.

VEGETABLE	CONTAINER SIZE	NUMBER OF PLANTS
Broccoli	2 gallons	1 plant
Carrot	1 gallon (use pots 2 inches deeper than the carrot length	3-4 plants
Cucumber	1 gallon	1 plant
Eggplant	5 gallon	1 plant
Green beans	2 gallon minimum	Space plants 3” apart
Green onion	1 gallon	3-5 plants
Leaf lettuce	1 gallon	2 plants
Parsley	1 gallon	3 plants
Radishes	1 gallon	Space 2” apart
Spinach	1 gallon	2 plants
Squash	5 gallon	1 plant
Tomato	5 gallon	1 plant
Turnip	2 gallon	2 plants

I will end this WAY TO LONG BLOG with some photos of great examples of plant to container size ratio successes.

Eggplants on my patio last year. 

Broccoli  

Cabbages

Carrots

Corn

Sorry this entry is so long, but I wanted to show as many examples of re-cycled containers as well as a good variety as possible. Let me know what you think or if you have any questions.

Dianna :0)

Getting Started

I have several friend, church family, and family members who have asked me if I had a blog about my gardening. My response has always been, NO and don't plan on it. However, here I am starting this blog. I have decided to do this because I feel a need to share my trials, failures and successes in this wonderful hobby of gardening. 


I am in no way a master gardener. I am just someone who through trial and error, reading hear-and-there have come to love gardening. So please enjoy reading, but please do not base all of your gardening on my blog, please do not come up to me and say, "Dianna you said XYZ, but it didn't work..." because what I have found through my gardening is that what works for one doesn't mean it will work for all. 


I have read books by experts, following their directions to the "T" and have had no success. Most of what I know is from trial and error on my patio and now in my community garden.

Over this past weekend I harvested four cabbages, three carrots, one zucchini, a large handful of green beans, a bowl of cherry tomatoes and four sandwich tomatoes from my patio and community gardening. What this says to me is that all of my trials, errors, and failures have taught me something and I am excited to see what else I will get from this great hobby of mine.


I cannot finish this entry by telling you about where my green thumb came from.

These are my mother's parents, Holiday "Husky" Nye and Susan "Louise" Ritter Nye and they are who I can thank for my green thumb. I never spent time helping either one of them with gardening, but they both had their talents that have come down to not only me, but to my cousin Brenda as well and her daughter Amanda. 


My grandfather kept a garden as long as I can remember, until his later years in life. He had a large garden where he planted large amounts crops like corn, tomatoes, watermelon, beans and peas. He also had a smaller garden where he planted small amounts of crops that were used for the house at meal time. One of my fondest memories was when he would ask me to go to the garden and pick an onion and each time I was asked no matter how big or small that onion was he always told me I was the best onion picker and it made me feel great! 


My grandmother had flower gardens, they were beautiful. Filled with tulips, flags, daffodils and many other flowers. I cannot say that I have the same talent at growing flowers, but what I got from my grandmother was the passion for gardening and the love of it. My grandmother loved her garden and had pride at what she could grow; I have that same love and pride.


So here I go on my journey to blog about what I love. I hope that you can gain something from what I blog about. Please leave comments and tell me what you think sounds good or what is stupid, etc.


Dianna :0)