No ground? No problem
Carolyn Tiry
Carolyn Tiry, Editor in Chief
April 12, 2012
Filed under Currents
Growing season is soon upon us, and though the city of Eau Claire has plenty of green space, many college students, including me, find themselves with a distinct lack of growing space.
But if you’re stuck on cultivating that green thumb, there is a way to build a garden without tearing up a lawn: container gardens.
Really, you can grow plants in virtually anything that will hold soil and has holes for draining extra water — clay pots, plastic pails, ceramic bowls, baskets lined with garbage bags, even used K-cups — individual coffee serving containers — for seedlings. It’s only bounded by your imagination, and it gives you a chance for some pretty creative recycling.
Do:
- Make sure your pots have enough holes for drainage. A hole ½ inch in diameter usually does the trick, but you should also line the pot with newspaper to
- prevent soil loss.
- Allow room for the roots to grow. Using too small of a container will choke the roots and dry out the soil. You can start seeds in small containers, but you’ll need to transplant them to a bigger space after a week or so.
- Put your containers in a place where they’ll get plenty of sun. Most plants require at least a few hours
- of sunlight.
Don’t:
- Use cheap plastic containers, such as milk jugs or K-cups, long-term. These are fine for starting seedlings, but they can deteriorate after spending too much time in sunlight.
- Over-water your plants. Most herbs need damp soil, but a lot of plants, such as tomatoes, can be easy to over-water. For those plants, wait until the soil is dry until you water them again.
- Use just any dirt. While you’ll probably get some results, your plants will turn out much better and much healthier if you use potting soil or, even better, compost.
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