Container Gardening Complete

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

700309 - ContainerGardens_001-272_FINAL.indd 216 5/24/17 12:22 PM
Job:06-700309 Title: CPS - Container Gardening Complete
Job:06-700309 Title: CPS - Container Gardening Complete

700309 - ContainerGardens_001-272_FINAL.indd 217 5/24/17 12:22 PM

Radishes are one of the fastest growing vegetable crops. Knowing the days to maturity for a particular crop means

you won’t have to guess when it’s ready to be picked.

We also consider the cycles of nature as we

care for our gardens throughout the growing

season. We plant flowering bulbs such as daffodils

and tulips in the fall so they have time to grow

roots before blooming the following spring, but

we plant frost-sensitive basil in the late spring,

after the danger of freezing temperatures has

passed. We sow cool-weather-loving crops such

as lettuce and radish very early or very late in the

season, and harvest garlic when the plants begin

to die back in high summer. Gardeners complete

all sorts of tasks in a predictable fashion, using

multiple cues from nature to time everything as

perfectly as we can.

While Chapters 1 and 2 walked you through

the early part of the container gardening process,

and Chapters 3 and 4 honed in on cultural

techniques and troubleshooting, this chapter

takes the next step. In the first part of this chapter,

we move another step forward through the cycle

of the growing season and focus on the period

of time when your plants reach maturity and

need to be harvested. You’ll learn valuable tips

for optimizing the harvest, timing it properly, and

improving the shelf-life of the fruits and veggies

you’ve grown. The second part of this chapter

is dedicated to what happens when autumn

arrives and the season comes full circle. I’ll offer

some great ideas for freshening up late-season

containers and using them as holiday decor.

Also included are guidelines for overwintering

plants and properly emptying and storing your

containers throughout the winter months to

prolong their life.

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Harvesting and Seasonal Considerations 217

HARVESTING

While autumn is often considered to be the

season of harvest, the truth is that in a container

garden where a variety of vegetables are growing,

harvesting occurs off and on throughout most

of the growing season. The timing of your

harvests depends on which fruits and vegetables

you’re growing. Essentially, you’ll be harvesting

as necessary. Here are a few tips to help you

maximize the yields and shelf-life of some of the

more common crops you may be growing in your

containerized veggie patch.

Pay attention to the “days to maturity” noted

on the seed packet or nursery pot tag of each

variety. This number reflects the amount of time

that a specific plant requires to reach maturity.

There is a great amount of variability among

days to maturity for different crops. For example,

radishes, one of the fastest growing vegetable

crops, mature in as little as 30 to 45 days, while

most sweet potato varieties take a good 110 days

until they’re ready for harvest. When planning

your garden, pay attention to this important

number and plan accordingly.

Continual harvests increase the yields of

many different crops. For vegetables whose edible

portion is a fruit or legume that develops from

a flower, such as tomatoes, eggplants, peppers,

cucumbers, beans, peas, and the like, the more

frequently you harvest the ripe veggies, the more

flowers the plant produces, extending the harvest

and production of the plant. In other words, the

more you pick most varieties of these plants, the

more veggies they produce.

Root crops, such as carrots, turnips, beets,

and radishes, don’t get “ripe” per se, but rather

they can be pulled from the soil and eaten at any

point in their development. They can be harvested

while still young as a “baby vegetable,” or they can

be allowed to reach full maturity before harvest.

It all depends on the flavor and texture you’re

aiming for. Unwashed root crops can be stored in

a bag in the fridge or in a box in a root cellar or

cool basement. You can also bury root crops in a

bin of damp sand for the longest shelf life. Keep

the sand-filled bin in a root cellar or basement

that’s cold but doesn’t freeze. Beets are one of

the easiest root crops to grow in containers. The

next project features a very cool way to grow a

beautiful combination of beets and Swiss chard in

a unique raised planter.

The more frequently you harvest ripe peppers, the

more fruits the plant will produce. The same goes

for many other crops, including tomatoes, beans,

and cucumbers.

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