Hot off the camcorder, Behnkes has a fabulous new video by Horticulturist Carol Allen about planting up vegetables in containers.  Here are the highlights (and times indicated for selective viewing), for people who, like this blogger, have short attention spans (or are just busy).

Or for regular, patient, less hurried gardeners, enjoy the whole video, embedded below from Youtube.

-  To create a Salad Bowl of Chives, Parsley, Thyme, Lettuces and Radishes, Carol recommends a container like the one shown above.

- Her favorite planting medium is Fafard Complete Planting Mix, shown above.  It provides good drainage, which is key.

- No need for packing peanuts or stones at the bottom of the container to improve drainage – it won’t.  And anyway, that excellent planting mix (Fafard) is what creates great drainage.

- Fill the container 2/3 to 7/8 full with the potting medium.

-  Starting at 3:16 watch Carol put the tiny plants (“starts”) into the medium, first spreading the roots apart so they’re not rootbound.  (She calls it “tough love” and it’s best seen!)

- She places the plants and potting medium so that it comes to about 3/4″ from the top of the container.  That’s important so that water doesn’t run out of the container, but stays and seeps down to water the roots.

- Carol slips the plant tags into the soil along the sides – out of sight but right where she can find them to remember the variety planted.  (Photo right.) At the end of the season they’re still there and can be removed for one’s garden journal.

- Having planted the “starts” around the edge of the container she next plants lettuce and radish seeds in the middle - starting at about 8:00.  They’ll grow really fast, germinating at about the same time.

- The larger plants around the perimeter will be harvested first, then ones started from seed in the middle.

- Beginning at 9:30 Carol demonstrates watering using a regular watering can but recommends using one with a “rose” on the end – shown below right.

- Carol then turns to a preplanted Early Girl tomato, the indeterminate type that keeps on growing.  Starting in July she’ll be pinching it back to encourage fullness, and removing the suckers, too.

- Insert a tomato cage into the pot and then stakes to hold the cage in place (connecting them with a twist ‘em).  Tomatoes in containers need the extra stakes because the cages aren’t be anchored as deeply in them as they are in open garden space.

- Throughout the season water thoroughly and deeply, but only when the surface of the medium is dry.  This potting medium changes color when it’s dry, which is very helpful.   At home Carol uses a hose to water containers.

- For feeding vegetables in containers Carol uses Espoma Bio-tone to start, then switches to Plant-Tone or Tomato-tone later in the season.  With those slow-release organic products, you don’t have to worry about polluting the Bay.

Posted by Susan Harris.

By Judith Conway

My garden is outdoing itself this August. The second crop of beans, just planted in mid-July, is already producing enough for dinner every other day, and the peas just planted last week where the cucumber vines had been are already 2 inches high.  The wash tub of carrots produces enough for the two of us each week, and the larger galvanized tub of mixed salad greens provides all we need for green salads.  The rows of fat, delicious leeks are undemanding and I love being able to just pull them up whenever I need them. The two eggplants have overwhelmed us with fruit and of course, all the squash and the tomatoes are working overtime.

I picked all the baby cucumbers last week and made them into Bread and Butter pickles, using my favorite recipe from the Ball Blue Book. These pickles are crisp and sweet, and are a wonderful accompaniment to summer sandwiches.  At the same time I made a jar of pickled cornichons (grown from some heirloom seeds I finally found after years of searching) using a recipe from the ancient French encyclopedia, Larousse Gastronomique. (If you are interested in pickling, there is a lot of good information in both the Ball book and on www.Pickyourown.org, including illustrated recipes for pickling and freezing just about anything you can think of.)

Each year I try a variety of new recipes for squash, and this year’s winner thus far has been the Summer Squash Lattice tart made from a Martha Stewart recipe you can find here.   It’s a pretty little thing, and if you use Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust like I did, rather than make your own Pate Brisse, it is an easy and perfect summertime dish.

The tomatoes, squash and eggplants I’ll slice into ¼-inch rounds, brush the slices with olive oil and roast them along with some red onion slices in a 400 degree oven until golden brown. I layer the cooled slices into pretty little stacks, alternating the vegetables with a little chevre between each slice. When ready to serve, I simply bake the “Napoleons” in a 350 degree oven until the cheese has softened slightly and drizzle each stack with a little Balsamic vinegar. (Recipe courtesy Erik Rochard of the Café de Paris in Columbia.)

Judith Conway is an artist, teacher, gardener and cook (and loyal Behnkes’ customer and friend).  She is co-owner of Vitrum Studio, an internationally-known glass studio and school in Beltsville, Md.

This season I’ll be visiting with Greenbelt’s community gardeners every week to report on what they’re doing in the garden and what their gardens are producing that week.   As a newbie to growing edibles myself, I’m hoping to pass on the wisdom of these savvy gardeners to blog readers, while learning a bit myself. Actually, I expect to learn a lot.  These spaces are gardened by not just regular, knowledgeable gardeners but by experts who work at the nearby Beltsville Agricultural Research Center.

It’s also just fun to meet other dirty, sweaty, enthusiastic gardeners like myself in my new hometown of Greenbelt.

Chris and Liz Kleemeier in their garden plot

Sisters Chris and Liz Kleemeier have been gardening together here for three years, though they profess to still knowing very little.   This week their main tasks are watering (it feels more like July than May, doesn’t it?) and laying down straw to hold down the number of weeds that have to be removed.  (Straw they told me they bought from Behnkes, by the way, being placed around plants from Behnkes.)

In the foreground above are stalks of onion from last year that are too pretty to remove, I’m told.  I agree!

Rhubarb and Thyme

Two of their best-performing plants are rhubarb, on the left, which the gardeners hope to turn into pie, and the thyme blooming on the right, which they bought because they’re perennial and would overwinter, which they certainly did.

Cucumber Trellis

A trick that Chris and Liz are trying this year is installing a trellis to hold up their cucumbers.  That way, the cukes will be off the ground, so hopefully less bothered by pests and definitely easier to pick.

One gardener flies the flag for Memorial Day.

Above and below, the plot of Jude Maul is already fully mulched, but needs lots of water.  Also on Jude’s list of tasks this weekend was harvesting as much of this gorgeous lettuce as possible before it bolts in the early heat.

Above are two more robust growers in Jude’s garden.  On the left is a row of asparagus, now in its fourth year and ready to seriously produce this year – finally!  And on the right are the snap peas that Jude was snapping off from the vine and popping into his mouth when I arrived to interview him.

Elsewhere in the garden I noticed some plots just starting to be prepared for the season, like the one below showing some newly plowed rows.   Spying the old-fashioned plow below right, I was impressed with the low-tech authenticity on display – until I noticed the power version on the left.  Use a little gas to spare a middle-aged back?  I’m totally on board with that.

A choice of plows.

More about the Greenbelt Community Gardens
Information about the gardens (three of them) is nowhere to be found online but I’m told the huge plots go for just 10 bucks a year.  Most are fenced but for some, better fencing is required.  (Pesky critters include not just deer but the far sneakier rabbits, plus the occasional raccoon.  The biggest challenge here – and this is BIG – is the lack of water.   Yes, these dedicated gardeners have to carry in their own water!  Scuttlebutt is that maybe someone will try to do something about having the city provide water for this garden, but then again maybe not.   I assume that’s because most gardeners are happier digging in the dirt than knocking on the doors of government bureaucrats.

Hopefully, I’ll soon be reporting on what’s happening in MY community garden plot here.  I’m told that I’m first on the waiting list and because I’m only looking for a part-share (because the plots here are HUGE), I’m optimistic that I’ll have enough space to grow a few items this season.   So I’ll confess up to another purpose in visiting the garden frequently – to spy any claimed but unused plots that might be up for grabs if I bring their unused condition to the right person’s attention.  I’m sneaky that way.

Posted by Susan Harris

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