Sowing Seeds in the City

Gardens Grow to Great Heights in Urban Containers

Last updated Sunday, May 4, 2008 2:37 PM CDT in Your Home

By Dan Zak
THE WASHINGTON POST

Also, don't try to mix full-sun and shade plants in the same garden; that kind of high-wire chlorophyll juggling is best left to the experts.

Start with containers that are at least 10 to 12 inches in diameter. If you're putting containers on a wooden deck or balcony, make sure the structure can hold the weight. (Big pots, filled with soil and watered regularly, can be very heavy.) And think vertically: With limited space, the solution to gardening grandly is to invest in climbers.

"Pole beans grow vertically. Do them on a chain-link fence or up the fire escape, and keep plucking them and eating them the whole summer," says Matthew Roberts, manager of Ginkgo Gardens in Washington. "Sunflowers are surprisingly easy. You're going to want to get the dwarf kind. They grow up four to five feet. A row of five of those only takes up about three feet in length and a foot and a half deep, and they just rock."

2. How do I make it pop?

An amateur container gardener must consider three things before planting: form, texture and color. A good container garden has vegetation of varying heights (taller plants in the middle or in back, surrounded by shorter plants and bordered by drooping, viny plants) as well as flowers that provide a constant or staggered show of blooming. Apart from height, make sure you have a variety of shapes and textures.

"Look to use different leaves," says John Peter Thompson, chairman of Maryland's Behnke Nurseries. "Pointy sword-type leaves that grass or gladiolas would give you, fuzzy and round leaves and leaves that are indented or serrated. Looking at texture, some leaves are hard and shiny, some soft and fuzzy. Planting a perennial like lamb's ear gives you something to touch."

The most important and striking variable, though, is color. Hot colors such as red, yellow and orange seem closer to the eye than cool shades. So if you want to make a small urban space seem bigger, plant blue or purple flowers, whose colors make them appear to recede.

Also give equal consideration to the hue of the leaves. "Remember: Your colors include green," Thompson says. "There are green-blues, green-yellows and green-reds, and thinking in terms of sticking to all one kind or contrasting different greens" is as important to the garden's color palette as the other parts of the rainbow.

3. How much time will it take?

Container gardens require monitoring, but not too much monitoring.

Check on the garden daily. Walk around it with your morning coffee, looking for disease, infestation or yellowing leaves (a sign of overwatering). If you check on your containers regularly, you'll be familiar enough with their general appearance to notice any changes.

"There are always people who do everything on Saturday morning: the weekend-only gardeners," says Kathy Jentz, editor and publisher of Washington Gardener magazine. "If you can devote a couple hours every week, that'll probably take care of it."

Containers dry out quickly, but that doesn't mean you should stick to a strict watering schedule. Merely feeling the topsoil isn't enough to tell whether the whole container garden is getting what it needs. The top may be dry while the roots are soaked. Thompson recommends thoroughly soaking a pot and then lifting it to get a feel for its weight. When it becomes significantly lighter, that's when you water it again.

If you'll be away for a while, get a neighbor or friend to water your garden, or put water-storing granules (such as Soil Moist) in the dirt to buy yourself some time.

4. What should I buy?

• A good pair of gloves. "You'll thank me in the end," Jentz says.

• The best potting soil you can afford. "It's very hard to think, 'OK, I have a $100 budget and need to spend $95 on dirt and $5 on the plant.' It's counterintuitive," Thompson says. "But the key to success is living, viable soil with all the beneficial microbes you can get."

• A seed starter kit, or egg cartons, if you're growing from seeds. Put them on top of the refrigerator after you plant them; the heat from the fridge will encourage germination.

• Plastic containers. Terra cotta or clay pots are heavier, don't retain water as easily and can crack. Try a couple of Rubbermaid crates, with drainage holes drilled in the bottoms; line them up to create a de facto garden bed. Or, if you want to try a more methodical, ready-made route, consider buying an EarthBox, a self-contained gardening system (www.earthbox.com). "The water resides down in this reservoir in the bottom, so instead of watering the top, you pour down a side chute and the roots reach down, which prevents overwatering and dehydration," Roberts says.

5. How do I not screw up?

All first-time gardeners make mistakes. If you know what to avoid from the outset, you'll have a head start on gardening successfully.

First, don't seed or plant too far apart. "People put either too few plants in or put them too far apart and wait all season for them to grow together in a container," Roberts says. "You can put plants closer together than you might think."

Don't try to grow plants that aren't appropriate for your area. Do research about a plant's sun and soil requirements, and don't buy it only because you like it or because it reminds you of home. What your mother grew when you were young won't necessarily thrive here. "A lot of English gardeners forget about our heat and humidity, which makes their delphiniums melt in the summertime," Jentz says.

Make sure your pots have adequate but not too much drainage. All plants need sunlight and water, but they also need plant food. Basic Miracle-Gro or a comparable product will do the trick.

There are a wealth of resources available to keep your mistakes to a minimum. Don't be afraid to visit your local nursery and ask experts. Sign up with Internet discussion groups, read magazines, peruse Web sites (GardenWeb at www.gardenweb.com is often cited as a trusted source) or hook up with your local master gardeners (check your county's official Web site or Google your way to them).

How Does Your Urban Garden Grow? In Pots

The Washington Post asked four experts to tailor 20- to 24-inch containers for specific needs. If you have no idea how to arrange a container garden, follow these recommendations to get started.

EVENING

For those who enjoy their gardens in the twilight hours

Designed by Matthew Roberts, manager of Ginkgo Gardens in Washington: "Flowers in this pot are various shades of white, cream and pale to show up at night. The perennials bloom at different times of the season; the annuals will cover the bare spots and off times. The purple setcreasea (Purple Heart) and the shocking green lysimachia (Creeping Jenny) keep the garden from becoming monotonous."

EDIBLE

For those who want to snack on their garden

Designed by Ed Bruske, president of DC Urban Gardeners: "This is a 'cool weather' salad container, meaning most of the plants thrive in spring and fall and tend to not like hot weather very much. I like the sharper, peppery flavors of arugula and mizuna in my salads. Also there is a variety of textures: The foliage has all different shapes and leaf structures."

SHOWY IN THE SHADE

For those who want to impress without full sun

Designed by Jill Gonzalez, manager of seasonal plants and perennials at Behnke Nurseries in Maryland: "Usually with part-sun you're a little more limited with selection. I chose this mix because it has some leaf texture and leaf color: coleus with its yellow and orange, and oxalis has a dark leaf with pink-white flowers. For the most part, this one is a pretty low-maintenance container. It likes morning sun and afternoon shade."

TOUGH TO KILL

For those who don't have time to pamper

Designed by Kathy Jentz, editor and publisher of Washington Gardener: "These thrive on neglect. Select a well-draining soil mixed with coarse playground sand. Top-dress with pea gravel or decorative rocks. Check on watering needs every two to three days until it is settled in. After that, you only need to water during serious drought; overwatering is the biggest downfall for these."

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