Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Growing Amazing Plants in Pots–My New Discoveries

Last year I did a test. I grew the same plants in large pots and also in my 20 year amended-compost enriched heavy clay soil.  Wow, what a difference!  Plant thrive in the pots as long as they received regular water.  I filled the pots with potting soil and compost and a scoop of organic plant based fertilizer.  The lighter looser soil allows for the roots to grow larger.  The potted plants need daily water which I have provided with a timer and drip irrigation system.  I have been playing with 4 timers and 400 feet of 1/2” irrigation pipe and 1/4” drip irrigation. (100 ft of irrigation for each timer) I finally happily settled on burying regular water hoses to provide a water source to the back of the garden and then connecting a 100 feet of 1/2” hose delivering the drip irrigation to the pots and also to farther-out areas that I found hard to water.  All of these pots have drip irrigation:
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I have 2 pots at the bottom on the front porch step.  These are the Tidal Wave Petunia I started in late winter.  The cactus came from my brother Juan’s California garden.  He is a master gardener. Gardening “runs in our genes”.
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The other side.
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I have Heavenly Blue Morning Glories beginning to travel up from the pots. Clematis is blooming
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Purple Tomatillos are forming in their parachute-like husks.  These are growing in large pots that sit against the hot west wall. 
The irrigation provides 10 minutes of daily water from sprayers connected to  1/4” irrigation tubing.  Eggplant, peppers and shorter growing Santiam and Glacier Tomatoes are also growing in pots.  Potatoes, bigger tomatoes, squashes, cucumbers and corn are growing in my vegetable beds.  Because our soil is heavy they take less water and still produce.
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There are 2 tomatillo plants per pot.  At least 2 are needed for pollination. The plants are taller than I am.
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Ornamental corn can be used for popcorn.  It is growing in the 2 pots in front of the little house with Illumination Amaranth.
We have a carport next to the back door. It is along the alley.  The pots have irrigation.  In June I had a "Bring a Dish Garden Breakfast Party" - We had 59 friends stop by.  It was a beautiful fun day.  We set up tables in this area and in the garden. 

2 comments:

  1. Hi Gloria, I see you haven't been blogging as often, either. Are you on Facebook? I am spending too much time there.

    I love your garden, pots and all! I no longer have many small pots, other than the houseplants. I wonder if I could manage a drip system like yours. I am pretty unorganized. I do have soaker hoses in the vegetable garden.

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  2. Hi Sue - It seems the summer has been so busy. Yes, I have even taken a time-off with Facebook...but I have been enjoying the summer and taking pictures of the beautiful garden. I hope to post some of them later. Sue, you could manage the drip irrigation...I went to Lowes and bought the timers and picked up their "how-to" brochure. I ended up putting all the timers on one faucet, because we have really strong house pressure and the plumbing would thump when the timer did it quit shut off. One of my outdoor faucets has been greatly reduced in water pressure, so it take the shut off just fine. I experimented with little brass reducer thingys but it wasn't enough. Hope that helps - Thanks for commenting - Gloria

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