Container Gardening Complete

Job:06-700309 Title: CPS - Container Gardening Complete

700309 - ContainerGardens_001-272_FINAL.indd 214 5/24/17 12:21 PM
Job:06-700309 Title: CPS - Container Gardening Complete
Job:06-700309 Title: CPS - Container Gardening Complete

700309 - ContainerGardens_001-272_FINAL.indd 215 5/24/17 12:21 PM

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700309 - ContainerGardens_001-272_FINAL.indd 214 5/24/17 1:07 PM

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chapter 5

Harvesting and Seasonal

Considerations

When planting a container garden at the start

of the growing season, it’s sometimes difficult

to imagine what it will look like by the time the

growing season comes to an end. Even after

experience teaches you what to expect, any

particular growing season can be unpredictable.

For most gardeners, the outcome is a mixture of

awe and exhilaration, with a little disappointment

thrown in just to keep us humble. Most years you

find yourself saying, “I can’t believe I grew that!”

But, occasionally you might also lament, “I can’t

believe I killed that.” It’s all part of gardening.

Although nature as a whole is unpredictable,

there are many aspects of it that are not. Much

of nature is cyclical: birth and death repeated

over and over again. From the passage of the

seasons and the movements of migrating

animals to plant dormancy and the life cycle

of a butterfly, these are parts of nature that are

predictable. The biggest ones, of course, involve

the life cycles of the plants we grow and the

change of the seasons—cycles we can predict

and use to our benefit. It might be something as

simple as planting a pepper in the spring so you

get fruits in the summer before the plant is killed

by frost, or adding a late-blooming perennial so

there’s nectar available for migrating monarchs.

Gardeners think about the predictable, cyclical

parts of nature all the time when making choices.

Trying new plants always feels like a risk, but

you never know when you’ll strike gold and find a

new favorite.

Planting cool-weather-loving crops, such as this bok

choy (Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis), in the early

spring or fall, results in better harvests.

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