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Container Gardens
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Date Posted: Sun, Apr 02 - 9:53 pm
- Thank you so much for doing this! I have two questions. First, do you have any advice on what native plants grow well and look nice in containers? I'm hoping to make my small patio/balcony (full sun) as pollinator and bird-friendly as possible. Second, I'd like to include some milkweeds to attract monarchs. I have a small patch of mulched ground (16x20 inches) against a fence. Would swamp milkweed grow well there and/or in containers?
- Hello there, Glad to be of service! I like your native container garden idea. If you want to attract birds, growing berries will make them happy. Blueberries do well in containers and they're beautiful year round plants. Be sure to plant at least 3 different varieties that bloom around the same time. Cross pollination improves the yield; and you need plants that are blooming at the same time to achieve that. The rabbiteye and the southern high bush should work well for you. Some varieties of southern high bush are: Golf Coast, Misty and Ozarkblue. Varieties of rabbiteye are: Powderblue, Brightwell, and Pink Lemonade. You'll need a good size container, maybe 18-20 inches deep and wide and a good acidic soil mix. Blueberries require an acidic soil. In addition to the blueberries, strawberries also do well in containers. You can seek out the native virginia strawberry. They are pretty easy to care for assuming you can give them all day sun. I like your idea of using the swamp milkweed. It's such a beautiful plant, has fragrance and attracts a wide variety of visitors. You could also use that plant in a container; just be sure the soil is moist. The orange butterfly weed is also quite pretty and attractive to pollinators. There is a publication you can download here: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58e25c41e6f2e17ea4cb7766/t/5ed00bfcb208c2251311ebc6/1590692887078/Native+Plants+for+Virginia%27s+Capital+Region+Guide+for+download.pdf. It gives many examples of native plants from trees to perennials. It's a very useful brochure. The website- plantvirginianatives. org has a wealth of information I think you will find useful. Good luck with this project. Happy gardening!
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Starting seedlings
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Date Posted: Fri, Jan 06 - 9:22 pm
- I’m having trouble understanding when I should start planting certain plants. Also, if I have to do it inside or not. I wanted to plant native wildflowers all around my yard. This is my first time doing it and I’m unsure if I should just get a raised bed or use my ground. Where can I go to get help and is there a basic planting calendar for starting?
- Hello there, The process of starting plants from seed can seem daunting. Different plants have different requirements. Your best source of information is on the seed packet. It should state whether the seed needs warmth to germinate (which would indicate that you should probably start those plants indoors, with sufficient lighting, but note that some plants don't need light to germinate but will need the lighting after germination). You'll need to know how long a seed usually takes to germinate (that will be on the seed packet). You'll need to know when it's safe (temperature/weather) to take any indoor-grown plants outside. Generally growing from seed takes labeling and record keeping. I used to grow plants that needed an indoor headstart in my basement under grow lights that could be adjusted to accommodate the increasing height of plants. It works well if you have the space. Having a check list of plant name, days to germination, date to set outside, etc. is incredibly helpful. Having the seeds labeled in their growing medium is also important. There is an alternative method that some people use called winter sowing. Which is basically making a mini greenhouse out of a container. You can use various containers (I find the large plastic bins that contained greens from the grocery store very useful but you can also use gallon jugs w/tops cut off or similar). My personal experience with winter sowing involved chard, spinach, lettuce-plants that like the cool weather. But I'm sure it will work for flowering plants as well. The beauty of winter sowing is that the light needed is easily provided by mother nature. If you have newly ripened seed, that could go straight into the ground but most people are working with seeds that have been harvested and stored and are thinking about planting in spring. Hence, things get a bit more complicated. You'll want to work backwards from the last frost date to figure out when to plant your seeds. You may be planting different seeds at different times. Richmond is between zone 7a and 7b, so April 15th seems like a reasonable last frost date (though it's possible we could have one a bit later). Keep your eye on the weather. There's lots of information online such as plant record keeping templates you can print out for your records and info about the process of winter sowing. You'll probably wind up doing a combination of indoor starts and winter sowing. Just remember, those plant packets are your best resource! Good growing !!
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Compost
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Date Posted: Fri, Mar 18 - 8:48 pm
- Hello, I tried container gardening last year for the first time and really loved it. I’m looking to try again this year. I’ve collected a lot of free pots over the year, and have a good amount of space outside for them, but I am low income and can’t afford to buy more than a few bags of potting soil. Do you know of any cheap or free soil or compost give away programs in richmond? I can’t compost myself here because I live in a apartment that is susceptible to roaches.
- Hello there, So glad to hear you're planting in containers. It's amazing how well that can work. While there is no public resource for free or cheap compost (hopefully someday....) I reached out to the other Master Gardeners and a couple of them are happy to share some of their own. If you email me at jrreilly2323@gmail.com, I can send you the contact information for the individuals that have compost to share. Please let me know if you have any further questions.
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Trellising Blackberries
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Date Posted: Wed, Aug 18 - 1:44 pm
- I am wanting to grow blackberries in containers. I have a full sun spot behind my house. Do you think galvanized feeder troughs would be a good thing in which to plant them? And was planning/thought I could trellis them on my fence - do you think that would work? Thank you
- Hello there, that sounds like a great scheme. The troughs should be fine. Galvanized containers are only a problem when they start to corrode so starting with new ones will be fine and serve you for many years. You didn't mention the type of blackberry or the height of your fence. Assuming you are using erect blackberries they will probably top out at 4-5 ft. tall. So factor that in with the height of your planters. If your trough is a foot high add in the mature height of the bushes at 5 feet. Assuming your fence is 6 feet high your good to go. Even if the fence is a bit shorter it will still work. Blackberries can get pretty tangled so you're smart to want to control them a bit with a support. Generally, you will cut down the cane after it has fruited and you've harvested. However, the pruning can vary depending on whether the plant fruits in summer or fall so just be sure to get all that information when you select a variety. It would be good to have some air circulation behind and around the plants so hopefully your fence isn't solid boards. You might wind up with some space in the front of the berries which could be a nice spot for growing herbs. Good luck with the project!