The Farm Guide

My efforts to establish a backyard container garden have not been nearly as successful as my vermicomposting venture. In my usual manner of doing things, I plunged headfirst into container gardening, having only grown houseplants with varying degrees of success in the past. Some of my houseplant experiences have been bittersweet: for a time I was the proud owner of an unfathomably large aloe plant, but it met a sorry end because I left it in direct sunlight on a hot porch a couple years ago – apparently desert plants do not like roasting in midday sun in New England. Lesson learned. Still, growing plants in a reasonably controlled indoor environment is not that much of a challenge if you have enough sun and can remember to dump water on them every now and then.

Container gardening is a totally different approach to growing plants compared to what I’m used to. In my experience, the goal of container gardening is to produce as many herbs, flowers, vegetables or fruits as possible, rather than simply keeping a plant alive as with houseplants. The short New England growing season therefore puts a premium on every plant – especially with all the rain we’ve had this year. No less than 23 days of rain in June alone has wreaked havoc on plenty of gardens this year I’m sure; several of my own plants are in rehab from ODing on H20 as we speak.

As with a lot of my projects, my foray into urban gardening began at Home Depot where I purchased seeds, long rectangular planters, a watering can and potting soil – total cost was somewhere around $20 - $30. I’m also a huge fan of freecycling, so I had a couple reclaimed planters to use as well. The seeds I selected included a variety of grape and cherry tomatoes, basil (of course), bell peppers, zucchini and green beans.

Things got off to a rough start when I had to delay sprouting the seeds due to a last minute work assignment in France – it’s pretty hard to tend to young seedlings when you’re gone for a whole month. Knowing that most other gardeners would’ve already had a jump on the growing season, and for good reasons, I figured the tomatoes would take too long to grow and produce fruits so I decided to skip planting those upon my return. Zucchini is wonderfully quick to establish itself and very productive once it gets going (at least, so the seed packet claims) so that was definitely a go. The same holds true for green beans and basil, though I was less sure about the bell peppers. I had managed to produce a couple Italian peppers on a windowsill in a previous apartment, so I figured why not try plant the bell peppers and see what happens.

I planted in early May upon my return from France. I have to admit that I wasn’t very precise in terms of spacing out the seeds, or even the seedlings once they began to emerge. At the time, I remember thinking, “why not plant as many as possible and let the little guys fight it out? Survival of the fittest, no?”

Despite the ridiculous rain, my little garden seemed to be doing pretty well – seeds were sprouting and some of the faster plants were shedding their baby leaves. About 3 weeks into it though, I noticed the basil looked yellowish and seemed to be struggling – something basil rarely does so long as you water it and give it indirect sun. Upon closer inspection, I realized the pot it was in wasn’t draining, and that the two-inch tall seedlings were practically drowning. Thanks to my scavenging, I had a spare planter lying around so I performed an emergency transplant. I’m happy to report that the basil has taken off – most are now around six inches tall! Still, some creature other than me has been munching on some of the leaves, but I have yet to catch the culprit. So far the damage is minimal, just a couple leaves here and there, but I’m determined to catch the bugger.

The problems have not been so subtle with the peppers. I had them in direct sun because as fruit producing plants I reasoned that they needed to photosynthesize more sugar in order to form large, healthy fruits. Apparently bell peppers wilt and become top-heavy under such lighting conditions, and much to my dismay I discovered them in a collapsed state after a particularly hot day upon my return from work. I staked them and put them on my porch where the light is only direct early and late in the day, while shaded during the hottest parts. I had to thin them and they are now growing in an S-curve, but hey, at least they’re growing! One is a champ – much taller than the others – and I hope it flowers soon though I don’t want to get my hopes up. The reason I am reticent to become optimistic was the recent discovery of aphids – ick! Those damn little things were all over my pepper plants! Panicking, I rushed to Mahoney’s garden center down the street from me in Brighton, where I procured an organic, petroleum-based pesticide that I promptly mixed in a spray bottle and attacked the aphids with. I feel bad using chemical warfare on defenseless little bugs, but after one narrow miss with my peppers and the sun, I felt justified.

When I moved the peppers to the porch, I also moved the green beans and the zucchini. The zucchini loves the shade and is blooming with big yellow flowers all over. The flowers are edible and I’ve chomped on some straight off the vine – surprisingly tasty, though I understand they’re better when you batter them or fry them in butter (what isn’t better fried in butter?). The zucchinis are my success story – largely problem free and I have even spotted some little baby zucchinis starting to grow. At first I was concerned my plant was “confused” about how to make zucchinis because all it seemed to want to do was make big beautiful flowers, but no fruits. After a quick Google search, it turns out zucchinis will often produce a lot of male flowers before any fruit-bearing female flowers to load the air with pollen and increase the chance fruits and therefore seeds will result. Flowering and fruit-making takes a lot out of a plant, so it’s a fairly smart strategy on the part of the zucchini. I for one love the fact that you can eat the male flowers while the female flowers are working on the squash – it’s like getting a two-for-one deal at the supermarket.

For the green beans however, switching to shade proved to be a big mistake. They wilted practically overnight, and turned a horrible motley shade of pale green-yellow. The worst part was the way in which they wilted – some were weighed down by big leaves and beans, so they practically snapped in half! Realizing the error of my ways, I’ve staked them and returned them to the sun, where I hope they will recuperate. The green beans are also suffering the most as a result of my crowded planting. Apparently “letting them fight it out” doesn’t result in the survival of the fittest, but rather smaller and less healthy plants on average. As I was tying the poor little guys to sticks, I pulled up the weaker ones and the ones with no leaves left –the obvious choices. The peppers have suffered similarly from overcrowding, but not as badly as the beans.

If I could redo my bean selection, I probably wouldn’t have chosen these particular ones anyway. They have flowered and produced green beans, but the beans are not very tasty and it’s hard to tell when they’re ready to be picked. Snap peas or haricot verts would probably have been a better choice given my piecemeal understanding of the needs and characteristics of this family of plants. Since switching back to full sun, there have been some hints of fresh green growth emerging, but I’m not going to hold my breath…

Aside from the precious container garden I’ve barely managed to avoid killing, there is mint growing wildly underneath the (concord?) grape vines that have practically overrun our back porch. The mint seems to be perfectly happy where it is, and I’m thrilled to have it for tabouli, couscous or quinoa salads – and mojitos of course! As I mentioned in my worm bin article, I’ve also salvaged some sprouts that were at first mysterious in nature, but I’ve since determined to be cantaloupe (or possibly honey dew, whichever). One of them is doing better than the rest and is becoming a beautiful sprawling vine with large floppy leaves, but given that an early summer start is best for these plants, I doubt I’ll see any flowers or fruits this season, unless of course Mother Nature gives us the summer she owes us New Englanders in September!

For now, I’ll just have to wait and see…