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Show Backyard Gardener 1 j Time to think of container planting By PATRICK DENTON Copley News Service Gardeners who are planning plan-ning to grow flowers and vegetables in containers on their balcony or patio this summer should be on the lookout now for free or inexpensive in-expensive planters. Anything Any-thing that will hold soil will do. Look for any size different-sized containers can be matched to a suitable planting later. And don't overlook the possibility of using hanging baskets either. ei-ther. Drag that old diaper pail or baby bath out of storage. Plastic garbage cans, plastic foam picnic coolers, old buckets, wooden wood-en boxes and baskets will all do. Wooden containers that have a somewhat open construction con-struction can be lined with plastic mesh screening to hold soil better. The wood can be treated first with copper naphthtnate to preserve pre-serve it but don't use other preservatives like creosote or pentachlorophenol, which are toxic. Copper na-phthenate na-phthenate turns the wood a rather attractive shade of green. The container must have some drainage holes in the bottom. If it doesn't, punch some with a can opener or nail and hammer. To improve im-prove drainage, put a one-inch one-inch layer of peat or sphag num moss at the bottom of the container, with a dusting dust-ing of charcoal. Rocks or gravel can be used but I feel that container plantings, plant-ings, especially for balconies, balco-nies, should be kept as lightweight as possible. Aim for a lightweight planting mixture, too. A mix based on sand will be terribly heavy, so for balcony bal-cony containers look for light materials like peat and vermiculite. If you will be planting just a few small containers, contain-ers, then purchase packaged, pack-aged, sterilized soil. If you plan to establish a large container garden, then you might find it more economical econom-ical to mix your own. You can start with a packaged soil mixture or sterilized soil (apartment dwellers might find a place to dig some on the outskirts of the city and sterilize it in the oven). To the loam add just a handful or two of clean, coarse sand for good drainage and root penetration. Also add just about as much peat as you have soil, and the same amount of vermiculite. If you tend to go heavy on the peat in your mixes, then add some dolomite lime at the rate of five tablespoons for every four gallons of peat. Whatever mixture you use, fill the container up to about an inch from the rim, pressing it down firmly into the container. Dampen it down well but don't use liquid fertilizer until the plants are set into the containers con-tainers or the seeds have sprouted and the plants have produced their second set of leaves. The next thing is to decide de-cide what vegetables to grow in which containers. Or, you can start at this end and decide first which varieties you want to grow and choose suitable containers con-tainers for them. Most vegetables need a soil depth of at least one foot. Possible exceptions are small vegetables like radish and lettuce. Very tiny and suited for small pots is Thorn Thumb, a baby butterhead which can be served whole as an individual indi-vidual salad. Although herbs and cherry cher-ry tomatoes will grow in a soil depth of six inches, baby carrots, radish and lettuce in eight, and tomatoes toma-toes in 18 inches, as a general gen-eral rule a plant will live longer and produce more abundantly given more room to stretch out its roots. Quick crops like miniature minia-ture lettuce and radish always al-ways can be tucked in around eggplant or tomato plants, to be removed in time for their slow-growing companions to take over the whole container. |