North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Pat Meadows <pat@containerseeds.com>]

On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 12:48:06 -0800, you wrote:

>My biggest problem with containers was always maintaining adequate moisture;
>a drip irrigation system was essential, with seasonal changes to the
>programmed watering, and one extra watering on windy days.  I had a balcony
>of potted plants at a home I had rented, and lost most of them when, it
>turns out, the landlord came over and broke the drip system timer.  

There are also self-watering containers, such as the
Earthbox:  http://www.earthbox.com.  Gardener's Supply has
some also. 

And there are also the water-holding crystals.  These are
said to be really excellent, although probably not suitable
for organic gardeners, at least not for the purists among
them.

See:
http://www.containerseeds.com/products/suppliespage.html
(and scroll down).

(I'm not trying to sell these here, I just don't know
another webpage that has them.)

But yes, it's hands-on gardening.  You must water, by one
means or another, and frequently.  Basically, I water my
container garden daily in summer (except when it rains of
course, which it did practically all summer this last
season).  I use a hose with a watering wand, so it only
takes a few minutes each day.  I like to see how things are
doing each day, so I'll probably not get a drip system.

Perhaps compensating for increased watering frequency are
the almost total absence of weeds and the vastly fewer
insect and disease problems experienced when growing in
containers.  

This last season, for example, I had major surgery in early
July and by the time I could get back to the in-ground
garden, weeds, slugs, and snails had really taken over
(encouraged by the almost constant rain) and I lost most of
my in-ground garden for the season.    

My containers - on the other hand - were chugging along in
fine shape.  My husband watered the containers when I
couldn't.  He couldn't cope with weeding the in-ground
garden (nor would he have known which were weeds and which
were veggies!) plus all the housework, cooking, feeding
dogs, taking care of me, etc. while I was laid up, but he
managed to keep the containers going along nicely.  The
slugs and snails didn't find them.  Nor did the weeds.  

Pat
-- 
ContainerSeeds.com - vegetable, herb, fruit, and 
edible flower seeds for successful container growing.
http://www.containerseeds.com