My Container Garden, Part I.

Today is one of those days.  Not one of THOSE days (although depending on the election results, it very well might be), but one of "those" days.  By which I mean one of those days where the temperature suddenly and magnificently rises to what regular human beings would probably consider tepid, and what Albertans consider to be positively balmy.  It's like 18 above.  This gives us permission to wear shorts or skirts, and frolic merrily home from work without wearing our jackets.  And for some of us, it gives the implied consent that we've been craving for months... we get to think about gardening.

Now if you are like myself and so many other Edmontonians who lack a backyard, gardening can seem like an impossibility or a nuisance.  You have a few options if you are interested in getting involved.  One option if you know what you are doing is to join a community garden.  If like me you are a relative newbie, I recommend trying out container gardening.

The bounty of the balcony. :)

 
This will be my third summer container gardening on my balcony.  The nice thing about getting started is that you need very little in the way of tools and supplies compared to something more large-scale.  I recommend to start off with that you invest in the following:

• a small watering can
• a little garden spade (an old spoon works well too!)
• some containers, no less than about 20cm deep (these don't have to be fancy flower pots from the greenhouse, most of my containers are five-gallon pails that would otherwise have been thrown out.  Reused buckets and such make great containers)
• some rocks (to put in the bottom of your pots)
• a bag or two of potting soil
• a couple packets of seeds you'd like to grow 
• a trellis or other support (OPTIONAL, but you'll need one if you want to grow peas or another type of vine-like plant that requires support)

Don't go crazy and try to grow a million things the first year.  I'd keep it to about 3 different things if you are a beginner when it comes to gardening.  Keep in mind as well that the general rule of thumb for the Edmonton area is NOT TO PLANT UNTIL AFTER MAY-LONG!  This is because you can't guarantee that frost won't come around and wipe out your garden until after the long weekend in May.

When picking out what type of plants to grow, it is very important to keep in mind that Edmonton is practically sub-arctic, so you need to make sure you are picking plants that have enough time to actually grow to their full potential.  Something like broccoli, for example, actually has to be sprouted indoors ahead of planting outside because our growing season is so short.  It is also a good idea to keep in mind what direction your balcony/patio/scrap of yard faces.  Some plants need a full afternoon of sunshine, whereas others can grow in a more shaded atmosphere.  If you aren't sure which plants are suitable on either of these accounts, take time to read the packages as you browse the seed selection at the store.  Usually the package will indicate how long it takes a plant to grow as well as how much sun exposure they will need.  You could also buy pre-started plants, but they are much more expensive than seeds.

Last year's "crops": peas, parsley, chives, beans.

For example, my first year of container gardening I tried to grow tomatoes, peppers and oregano on my east-facing balcony.  Because I only get the morning sun (less hot than afternoon sun) until about noon, my plants did very poorly.  Plants that require a large amount of sun like these will do best in a south or west facing environment.  If like me you have an eastern exposure, or a northern one, try to grow things like lettuce, green beans, spinach and pea pods, which do fine with minimal sun.

Spinach grows well in on a less-sunny balcony.

The really nice part of container gardening is that compared to what I guess you could call "regular gardening" (as in gardening in the actual ground), container gardening is a bit easier.  Things like weeds are less likely to get wildly out of hand, and some insects will have difficultly eating your greens when you are several floors up on a balcony.  That being said, a garden cannot grow by itself and you will need to do regular maintenance and watering if you want your plants to be healthy and large.

The best part?  Connecting with the Earth and eating veggies you grew all by yourself!

Because we are still a month away from being able to plant, I'm going to leave it there for now.  For container gardening part 2, I will talk about the actual set-up and planting process.  Watch for the post on May long weekend!