I moved to a new house last year and got tired of fighting the squirrels for my bulbs. I planed summer flowering ones in pots last year and they came up great and stayed out of the squirrels' clutches. I just recently planted a few more pots of bulbs. I have a bay tree and a brugmansia growing in pots too. I like it cause I can pull them in over the winter (which can be crummy in upstate new york) and then set them back outsdie when the weather improves.
This year I am going to try tomatoes grown this way. I also planted a strawberry jar full of herbs last year and grew lettuce on the top of it. Worked great!
Containers are so much easier for me, I don't have to spend hours bending over in the yard, and they're relatively weed free.
Container gardening
Good luck with the tomatoes. Dependnig on the kind you get, they should do great. Do you prune your bay tree? I'm trying to get mine to grow a bit more. I cut the two tallest stems a couple of months ago, and now I have a lot of growth with them getting bushier, but I would also like them to get a bit taller.
kanita
I don't prune my bay, it's still kinda small, so I leave it be. I did have one branch that grew long, but I cut it off last year and used it as a bit of tinder for my charcoal grill. I use my bay tree quite a lot for cooking so I keep plucking leaves off, but I take the ones toward the bottom of the branch and it doesn't seem like that's affected it.
Enjoy - the flavor and aroma of fresh bay is worlds better than the ones you buy at the supermarket.
You're so right about the taste. I made jambalaya the other day and I loved being able to go get fresh bay leaves off of my balcony.
kanita
Torisebastion just watch out for the chipmunks stealing your tomatoes! I grow in tomatoes in containers and they are attracted to the red fruits. You wait and wait for the tomatoes to ripen and you say to yourself that "I'll pick that one tomorrow" and the chipmunks get it before you can!
Sue
This message was edited Apr 12, 2006 11:35 AM
Hi guys, I want to chide in on the container tomatoes and the chimpmunks. I grew BB and beefsteak tomatoes in 10 inch self-watering containers last year until first frost. I set them on cinder blocks too high for the rabbits. We had more maters than we could eat. I think I'll increase containers but prune back because it was like a jungle by them. I thought my mater loving sweatheart was making sadwiches out of the ripest behind my back. But we too have chipmunks under my back steeps.
Too bad for them because I now have another reason besides a new deck to make them go away permanently- since trapping hasn't worked.
Remember those maters need 6 to 8 hours of sun and if you start them indoor early or buy larger nursery plants you will enjoy lBernieots of maters.