Miniature Vegetable Gardens
By starlight1153 (starlight1153) on March 15, 2010
| Have you ever wanted to just walk out your door and pick yourself a basket of home-grown produce, but the reality facing you was either a very tiny space of a yard or a slab of cement? Don't be discouraged, you too can create and enjoy a beautiful vegetable garden very easily. |
Nothing tastes as good as a fresh picked vegetable. Besides the taste, you get the benefit of all the healthy vitamins contained in that vegetable. Even if the area available to you isn't much bigger than a postage stamp you can grow an array of vegetables by growing minature and midget cultivars.
If you look through the seed catalogs you will find minature/midget varieties for such cultivars as Carrots, Corn, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Peas, Eggplants Lettuce, Cabbage and even such foods as Cantelopes, Watermelons and Potatoes. Yes, a shadow box filled with soil and a bit of mulch will produce potatoes. While these vegetables may be smaller in statue they have all the flavor that their full-sized cousins do.
A small window box can supply fresh lettuce and carrots everyday. Assorted types of containers can be used to grow Tomatoes and Cucumbers. Don't forget to use the area up above too. Hanging baskets make great areas to grow Strawberries and Peas along with Tomatoes. If you have hanging baskets that don't have saucers on the bottom, take an aluminium pie pan, poke some holes in it for drainage, and place it in the bottom of your basket before filling with soil and your plants.
Some of the advantages of growing in containers and baskets in a smaller area are that you have less weeds to worry about pulling. Generally you have less pest problems as you are able to scout your plants everyday. You don't have to walk very far to pick your vegetables. You can integrate them along with your favorite flower pots, and you get the satisfaction of eating and serving food that you grew yourself. The one thing to remember though, is that with growing in containers, you must play the part of Mother Nature and provide the extra nutrients that the plants will need to grow and produce fruit. This is easily accomplished by use of such products as Miracle Grow plant food when you water. Read the directions though for proper dosage and remember to use plain water every so often to wash out salts that build up from the fertilizers in the containers.
Here is a list of a few of the minature/midget cultivars available today:
Cabbage Baby head... A small minature head that is only 3" across packed with flavor. Carrots Short n' Sweet, Tiny Sweet... Orange carrots ranging from 21/2" to 3" long. Corn Golden Midget... This cultivar only gets a few feet tall yet produces about 5" ears. Cucumber Bush Crop... A compact patio type plant with 8" cukes for slicing. Eggplant Hansel or Gretel...Compact plants where fruit can be picked from 3" to 10" lengths. Bambino... Small, dark fruits that are great for shish-ka-bobs. Peas Sugar Daddy... A 2' tall plant that produces loads of snap peas. Tomatoes Tiny Tim and Tumblin' Tom... Cherry type tomatoes great in containers or hanging baskets.
The above mentioned are just a few cultivars, there are many, many more to choose from. So pick your seeds, grab your containers and pots and a bag or two of soil, and with a little bit of creativity you too can turn just about any area into a virtual garden of fresh veggies.
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| cantaloupe, containers, corn, eggplant, garden, hanging baskets, midget, miniature, miniature vegetable gardens, patio, peas, peppers, tomatoes, vegetables, watermelon |
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Comments and discussion:
| Subject | Thread Starter | Last Reply | Replies |
|---|---|---|---|
| You inspired me! | louise | Mar 17, 2010 9:20 AM | 1 |
