How to Contain Mint and Strawberries

I just received a question from one of my readers about controlling Mint and Strawberry plants. This short article should give you some ideas to get you started.

M I N T

For mint, since we usually don't use more than what can grow in a square foot of space or less; find an old deep cooking pot. Something like you might use to can pickles and tomatoes. A waterbath container. This should be about about a foot deep. If it doesn't already have holes in the bottom, put several holes at least a quarter inch in diameter. Fill it with good loose garden soil. Half Compost/Half soil is good. Or just potting soil. You could also mix half and half soil and old rotted leaves (black - leafmold). With these mixes, fill the container nearly full. Gently firm the soil down. Fill it again. You should leave a few inches at the top for watering.



Place the container of soil in an appropriately sized hole. Leave about 4 inches sticking out. Put a few mints in and water down. From here on, just trim the trailers as they climb out of the container. Keep them from reinserting themselves outside the container. You have them under control.


If you are not burying the pot in the ground, say setting it on a patio or maybe hanging it up, you will have to water it at least twice as much. Partial shade or Morning and late Afternoon shade should keep the mints from burning up if they are adequately watered.

S T R A W B E R R I E S

Strawberries need a similar barrier but a lot more area. Say 10 by 10 feet. This area can be formed by setting up bricks on end in various border like designs. Like the mint, trim off the runners as they try to escape. I have heard of using a barrier of concrete blocks - filled in with a light sandy soil with good drainage. You could use old 2x6, 8, 10, 12 lumber to enclose the strawberries. This can get very expensive if you use Cedar or even Redwood - which can cost a small fortune! 



Some people buy an old fashioned "Washtub". These make nice containers for a small amounts of strawberry plants.



Last of all, you could use old tires up to the size of Tractor tires. However, don't use New tires. The fumes they give off on a hot day are not good for food! Get something several years old and your probably pretty safe. Another thing you might try is a kiddy pool. If they are buried in the ground they might better withstand our winters and the suns UV causing the plastic to deteriorate. Don't expect over one or two seasons of use from these.



Hope this primes the pump and gets your creative juices working. And don't forget to let me know when the strawberries are ready....



Cheers - Bob

Why Are My Tomato Plants Smaller?

I heard this comment made a few days ago about starting Tomato and Pepper Plants. One of my readers said, "My plants are so small compared to the Nurseries and Big Box Stores. What am I doing wrong?"



My Answer:

My plants are also small compared to the Nurseries! Not to worry.

I think I start my tomatoes at the right time. From the First of March through Mid April. They will be plenty big enough to hold their own when they are planted out at the proper time after all chance of late frost is gone.


However, Nurseries and big box stores know we are all anxious to get our gardens going in the very early of Spring. We're so sick of winter! So they get their plants to market way too early - knowing you will buy them!


Usually these plants are also given a good shot of "Miracle Grow" so they will grow big fast and look enticing to you. To much of a good thing I think.

Too much Nitrogen can turn a tomato plant into a gorgeous Bush - with lots and lots of foliage. You may end up with a beautiful plant with lots of leaves that may never flower or grows fruit. It's been treated so well that it doesn't think it will Ever have to grow Progeny. It thinks Winter will never come! It's going to live forever. A nice delusion for the Tomato or Pepper Plant, but not for your Canning plans!


This is not good. And, most beginners will give the plant another shot of Miracle Grow etc. during or shortly after planting it! My advice. Wait a few weeks after planting to fertilize. About half maturity. Give it a little fertilizer. Then a little more After it blooms to help it develop fruit. That's it.

Of course, by early April, we're all desperate to start Spring aren't we. And we're chomping at the bit to start our gardens - Now! Tilling might be in order. Planting Not unless you live in the warmer zones and even there you might get a late frost to kill your plants. Listen to the weatherman. If you have plants out and a late frost is threatening. Even a light frost.


Cover your Tomatoes and Peppers if you put them out early. Cool Weather Plants like onions, Lettuce, etc., don't worry to much unless a hard freeze is predicted. They love cool weather!


Usually tomatoes and peppers get planted to early by beginning gardeners because of the beautiful plants found in the stores. Then they wander why their plants just sat there doing nothing for a month - or worse yet - died from the cold ground or even a late frost.


The stores are not to concerned. They are just giving people what they want. "A quick "Shot of Spring" to bring them out of the Winter Doldrums. Then comes the disappointment and long faces when these beautiful plants don't live up to their promise.






The beginning gardener assumes that if it wasn't time to plant their Tomatoes and Peppers, the Nurseries  wouldn't be selling them. Wrong!


It is a ruse perpetuated by some stores preying on  naive new gardeners. The only thing safe to plant in early spring of course is potatoes, onions, and other cool weather crops. Learn what they are and you wont get burned. Tomatoes and Peppers are warm weather plants - semi tropical even. They want and need warm soil - or they will just set there. It's just getting warm enough for Peppers in late May or even the First of June in zone 6. 

Of course, people with experience shelter their warm weather plants (if they set them out at all) in mid April or the first week of May.


But Yes. I am going to start mine in December too next year. I start my own because I have complete control. I plan to shelter mine for several weeks . I know how to protect them if I set them out a little early. You can too if you take special care to keep them safe from late frosts etc. It is not to hard.


The problem with starting really early say February, is when they are leafing out and getting tall and need real sunlight and fresh air in March so they can grow strong; where do you go with them?


I am currently working on a Mini-Greenhouse that can be heated on cold nights with a small electric heater or even a few 100 watt incandescent bulbs or may be adequately protected by a cold shed or garage until the plants can be wheeled outside in the spring.

Hopefully it will hold a Hundred or so Tomatoes or Peppers that are up to 1 foot tall. I am projecting the cost to build it to be somewhere between 50 and 75 dollars. And maybe 10 to 15 dollars a month to run. Not to expensive to raise a hundred tomatoes. I don't see anything like that on the market so I will attempt to build it myself. I don't consider the small grow-light setups to be adequate for a hundred or so plants - and they are very over priced!

However, even if you feel that your Tomato Plants and Pepper Plants are too small. When it warms up in May, and you think you are setting them out late; they will undoubtedly catch up Fast with the Nursery Plants - which were put out too early and that are now expending their energy trying to recover from the cold instead of settling down to grow as you "late" tomato plants are quickly doing.

Don't be discouraged. Your small Tomato and Pepper Plants may even bear fruit before the early-bird Store plants. Watch them and you will see. Your plants will soon catch up!


Bob
GrandBob

Copyright 2010 Robert Mader

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Homemade Dill Pickles

As you probably noticed, the new banner picture at the top is dedicated to Home Canning. It's going on Fast and Furious here. Especially Dill and Bread and Butter Pickles.
The Butter Pickles are the ones with the fancy red peppers and spices in the picture.
Rather than reinvent the wheel, I found this great article by Bobbi Rightmyer in the Kansas City Examiner. Including an easy to follow recipe. Here is the link.

http://www.examiner.com/x-14263-Lexington-Gardening-Examiner~y2009m8d24-Homemade-dill-pickles?


If the link doesn't cooperate, just Copy and Paste the above address into your Browser and enter.

My daughter, who is a neophite at gardening convinced me that there is a certain cucumber that is a "Pickling Cucumber" as apposed to the ones you cool in the fridge, cut and chomp on! She planted "Bush Pickling Cucumbers" and I planted common old "Straight Eight" Cucumbers. Hers brought in a great big crop of pickles. My cucumbers were just fair to midling. Just goes to show you...

I did notice a difference. The Pickling Cucumber has only a few small seeds toward the center. The Big "Straight Eight" Cucumbers of mine had seeds almost out to the rim of a cross slice. We also noticed last year, they seemed to have a mushy texture when pickled as apposed to the Pickling Cucumber that is smaller on the average and makes a "Crunchy" Pickle.

GrandBob