Squirrels Love the Washtub and Marigolds!

There's no good way to say this but my wash tub as a container garden isn't going well.  I expected the bindweed to be a problem because, well, every inch of my dirt is contaminated with bindweed.  What I wasn't really expecting was that it would be such a squirrel magnet.

I direct sow a lot of seeds in my garden, especially lettuce.  I don't have a picture of it but I had excellent germination of the three seeds (marigold, basil and lettuce) I sowed in this container but ever since they sprouted, the squirrel basically been camped out in there.  I am pretty sure it has eaten every single marigold and basil seedling, only leaving a little of the lettuce.  Aren't marigolds supposed to stink?  Hence why you plant them with tomatoes so they'll keep the pests away?  Or did I dream that?  It's not just that the seedlings were young succulent microgreen squirrel goodness either.  I started other marigolds indoors and transplanted them into my vegetable garden after they were several inches tall and the squirrels ate all of them except one plant which is now blooming, thankfully.  Flash of genius! Genetically engineered squirrels that love bindweed!

It's unfortunate but I think I'm going to need to clean the weeds out, replant the seeds and cover it with some ugly screen until the plants are big enough to be a little more unappealing to squirrels.  I tell ya, these are the types of things that make round-up and BB guns appealing.  I'm just sayin.

I'm growing with the SeedGROW project. Thanks to Reenes Garden for the seeds.

Using Washtubs for Container Gardening

I'm bad about copying other people's ideas.  I admit it.   And ever since I attended a Gayla Trail's lecture at the Milwaukee Art Museum and saw her great photo of chives planted in a washtub that she used in her presentation, I've been wanting to create the exact same thing in my garden.

Several years ago I stopped by an estate sale and paid a couple of dollars for an old wash tub and brought it home only to find that the bottom was coming off.  In Gayla's presentation, she talked about removing the bottom of the washtub and sitting it right on the ground, filling it with potting soil and using it like a regular container garden.  So tonight when I got home I dumped all the crap I had stored in the gimpy washtub out then fought with it for about 15 minutes until the bottom finally snapped lose.

This season I'm going to be planting Summer Splash Marigold and Italian Cameo Basil seeds (and maybe some other yet-to-be-determined ones) in it.  Both are from Renee's Garden donated to gardeners for the second annual Seed Grow project.  We're also growing Container Babies Lettuce, the third seed in the Seed Grow project.  I sowed the Container Babies seeds directly in my raised beds a few days ago.  I have never direct sowed basil seeds and this is my first year growing marigold from seed so I'm pretty nervous about it but very excited to be able to participate in this project again this year.

I'll keep you posted on how this wash tub container works out.  I placed in the memory garden I planted for my father-in-law just beneath my Wine and Roses Weigela.  I think the faded grey color of the washtub will look spectacular against the backdrop of the purple Weigela foliage.

I'm growing with the SeedGROW project. Thanks to Reenes Garden for the seeds.

Beginner Gardeners, Start With Hybrids!

I was worried when he said he was planting that tomato in a pot on his patio.  Growing vegetables in containers is supposed to be easy but I haven't had much success with it, myself.  I tried to warn him.  "But. But. Tomatoes need so much water!  And containers in general need so much water!  Are you sure?"  In reality, I should have known better than to give an Heirloom Brandywine to somebody who's never had a garden before, that has a nearly fully shaded yard, the one sunny spot a piece of concrete.   Brandywine tomatoes are humongous.  Big tomatoes need lots of water!  And this one was started from seed, late.  Half assed taken care of.  It didn't stand a chance.

Last year, like usual, I sowed way more tomato seeds than I needed.  We'd originally planned to have a plant sale to raise money for Forest Park Community Garden but as it turned out, we didn't have enough places to sell everything we'd grown and before we knew it, it was past time for kitchen gardens to be planted.  Desperate, not ready to compost the few I had left, I convinced my office mate to take one of the spindly leftover Brandywines.  Between the squirrels and his toddler thinking they were balls, I believe he only got two tomatoes the entire season.  It didn't produce very many to start with.  I still feel responsible that his first gardening experience wasn't life altering like mine was.  It got me thinking that, for new gardeners, rather than starting them out with Heirloom varieties like I did in the case of the spindly Heirloom Brandywine, hybrids might be the way to go, for three reasons.

1. They're prolific.  As a new gardener it can be pretty devastating to coddle a plant all season only to harvest a few tomatoes.  Hybrids are bred to be much more prolific than Heirlooms.  When you grow an Heirloom tomato, you go in knowing that whatever fruit you get will probably be amazing, but you probably won't get very many. Hybrids still taste good and they are consistent, heavy producers.
2. They're disease resistant.  Aside from watering, new gardeners, especially ones committed to organic gardening, are pretty clueless about how to prevent or treat disease.  And at least in my experience, Heirlooms seem more susceptible to them.  Hybrids are bred to resist the most common diseases effecting that particular plant variety. 
3. They're easy to find.  Although Heirloom varieties are popping up more in big box stores and I've even found some at my local grocery store over the past 2 years, hybrids are everywhere.  

As a beginning gardener, especially a tomato gardener, (nearly all of them are!) the focus ought to be on finding a good sunny spot, getting in the habit of regular and appropriate watering, proper staking and all that stuff.  A good friend of mine always told me that successes build on each other.  That is particularly true with gardening.  My first year, I bought whatever was sold at my local big box store.  And my garden was so successful that I wanted to expand it, explore new varieties, try out these Heirlooms I'd read tasted so amazing.  By that time I had enough experience under my belt that I felt confident I could take on these sometimes harder to grow plants.  I'm pretty sure that, had I started gardening with Heirlooms I would have been so discouraged by their production and my lack of knowledge of how to control pests and diseases organically that I may not have ever gardened again.  I grow mostly Heirlooms now but I always have at least one hybrid tomato because I know that guarantees me tomatoes in case all the Heirlooms fail to produce or die from disease.

This year my office mate has agreed to give tomato growing another shot.  Not only that, I've recruited two new coworkers willing to try gardening.  They're all growing in containers. I'm planning to give them each one Sungold Cherry Tomato plant and one New Girl.  Both these hybrid tomatoes should be reliable, easy to grow and prolific, even in containers.   I want them to love gardening this year, not to stress over it.  I want them to learn and marvel and feel gratified.  If my plan works, they will make the same natural progression towards those old delicious Heirloom varieties many of us experienced gardeners have.

I know the hardcore gardeners will likely gasp over me openly endorsing hybrids here, but I have given this a lot of thought.  My goal is to grow new gardeners, not one-year-gardeners.  And I believe that starting with hybrids increases the chance that a person will continue gardening beyond that first, difficult year.

As a new gardener, did you start with hybrids or Heirlooms?  Either way, what was your experience?