I've chosen this picture (from my favorite artist, again!) because it looks so springlike and I'm longing for spring, as I always am at this time of year. We've got a long ways to go until spring, but some lucky folks in warmer climates are already planting.

Since the last newsletter, we have added 14 new seeds to our website, and one collection, an Heirloom Seed Collection. Two more seeds to add, and then that job is finished for this year!

We have become a Gardens Alive! affiliate. As readers of past newsletters will realize, I use and recommend several Gardens Alive! products - and had been doing so without being an affiliate. Being an affiliate means that if someone "clicks through" to Gardens Alive! from a link on our website, we receive a small percentage of the purchase price of anything they purchase. This does not increase the price to the purchaser. It also means that I'll be able to bring my readers coupons and sales occasionally. So it seems like a good idea.

From December to March, there are for many of us three gardens -
the garden outdoors,
the garden of pots and bowls in the house,
and the garden of the mind's eye.
- Katherine S. White

My garden is mainly "of the mind's eye" in February, but the valiant little tomatoes in the bay window keep chugging along producing tomatoes. The Bambino Hybrid eggplant (also in the window) has many, many little eggplants now. The picture shows the Yellow Canary, growing in a 7" deep, 10" diameter pot - the support you can see in the picture is a wooden spoon!

Several of our customers have emailed, asking what I recommend they use for potting soil and/or fertilizer. So it's time I address both those questions. We already have a Seed Starting FAQ in the Articles section of our website, so please refer to that article if you need directions on starting seeds. I'll pick up here where that leaves off...... in question-and-answer format.

1. Are there any requirements for containers?

2. What should I fill the containers with?

3. How about fertilizer? What should I use and how often?

1. Are there any requirements for containers? As far as I'm concerned, there is one absolute requirement for containers for living plants: the container must have drainage holes. No excuses: if you want the plant to live, the container must have drainage holes. Often you can drill holes in containers that don't already have them. If you have a beautiful container that you really want to use but cannot drill holes in, then you can use it as a "cache pot." Pot your plant in something else with drainage holes, and set that pot in the beautiful pot with no holes. In this case, be sure to drain the water out of the "cache pot" an hour or so after each time you water.

Otherwise, anything that will hold soil and have enough room for what you plant in it will be OK. Clay (terracotta) pots are cheap and look good, but dry out quickly, are heavy, and tend to shatter from frost in below freezing weather. Plastic can look reasonably good (as honest plastic) or fairly terrible (as fake-something else). Most of my containers are plastic. Wood is lovely but expensive. There are various other materials.

Non-traditional containers include five-gallon buckets, laundry baskets lined with plastic, plastic storage containers, heavy plastic growing bags, dishpans, large plastic bowls, and just about anything and everything else that will hold soil.

2. What should I fill the containers with? I've looked this up in several container-garden specific books that I own to be certain I'm giving you good advice. Fortunately, the books agree with my own experience, so I am answering this based on my own experience, plus the recommendations of several books.

My first recommendation is a commercial, all-purpose Soilless Mix, often called "potting soil." One popular brand is "Pro-Mix" and another brand is "Jiffy-Mix". There are several others and I have used various brands with uniformly good success. These are available at local garden centers. If you want organic potting soil or you cannot find it locally, you can buy it online at Gardens Alive!, Peaceful Valley Farm Supply, or other online suppliers. This is a very, very expensive way to buy it though: local garden centers should be much cheaper. Because I use a lot of it, I buy it in 3.8 cubic foot compressed bales, and store it in two garbage pails on our deck. Smaller sizes are available too.

Garden soil, no matter how good, is not suitable for containers. Purchased "topsoil" (alone) is not suitable for containers either. Both are too heavy, and will compact. Don't buy potting soil labelled for one specific use either, but get an all-purpose blend.

If you want to, you can add various things to your soilless mix: sand (builder's or "sharp" sand, not seashore sand), for one. I rarely do, though, but use it "as is." If you have compost, you can add that (for outdoor containers only). If you can purchase "spent mushroom soil"economically, you can add that to outdoor containers. I don't recommend adding *anything* that isn't sterile to indoor containers. Once you've had one infestation of fungus gnats (or other pests) in indoor plants, you won't want to add anything non-sterile to potting soil used indoors! (Please note that if you add either compost, you'll need to adjust the fertilizer advice given below.)

The alternative is to mix your own "potting soil" or "soilless mix". I used to do this before the premixed kind was easily available. It's bit of a nuisance and I don't do it now, but it can certainly be done. If you want/need to mix your own, I recommend this mix:

("Parts" are by volume, not by weight. One bucket of this, one bucket of that, etc......)

One part of peat moss or coir (coconut fiber)
One part of perlite or horticultural grade vermiculite
One part of builder's sand
One part of purchased and sterile topsoil (this can be omitted)

Other "recipes" for potting soil that also work well are found here..

3. How about fertilizer? What should I use and how often should I fertilize?

You will realize, of course, that regular feeding of plants in containers is absolutely necessary. Again, I've looked this up in a couple of books. I recommend a two-fold approach (based on the books plus my own experience):

1. Mix a slow-release fertilizer with your potting soil before you pot the plant. "Osmacote" is one popular brand of slow-release fertilizer. Slow-release fertilizers are available at local garden centers as well as online. For organic gardeners, there are slow-release (pelleted) organic fertilizers, including pelleted fish fertilizer and pellitized compost.

2. When the plants are growing, apply a complete, balanced fertilizer, diluted to half strength, once a week. You want to look for the words "complete," "balanced," and "micronutrients" on the fertilizer. The three numbers on fertilizers represent nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium (N, P, K). I don't think the specific numbers are really all that important. You are going to give your plants *enough* of all three main elements. As long as there is *enough*, a little extra of one or the other isn't going to harm anything. Grossly too much might be harmful but a little too much won't. And if you apply the weekly fertilizer at half recommended strength, you aren't going to have grossly too much.

I have used "Miracle-Gro" and other commercial fertilizers (even houseplant food!) with very good results, and I've also used organic fertilizers with very good results.

These are the basics. There are various other beneficial additives, such as greensand (a natural mineral with many micronutrients), kelp spray, and a host of others. If you want to do an absolutely superb job with your plants, you'll probably want to investigate these or some other soil amendments, but they are outside the scope of this article.

By the way, greensand is only used at the rate of 1-2 teaspoons per plant. Since it cannot be purchased economically in small quantities, I've just ordered some and will be selling it in quantities appropriate for container gardening. Just as soon as we receive it, I'll add it to our Supplies Page.

You can quickly and evenly space your seeds (when planting directly outdoors) or your transplants by using glass or plastic bottles: stamp the bottom of the bottle lightly into the loosened potting soil: then put your seeds or transplants in the center of each indentation. Different size bottles will allow for different plant spacings.

You can keep cut flowers in good condition considerably longer by using the following "cut flower food": Use one part lemon-lime soda (7-Up, Sprite, etc.) and one part lukewarm water. Add a teaspoon of chlorine-type bleach to this. Before putting the flowers into this solution in their vase, hold the flowers under water and re-cut their stems. Then use your "cut flower food" instead of water in the vase.

Have you ever wondered why "eggplants" are called "eggplants" in the USA and Canada? "Traditional" eggplants in the USA and Canada are large, roundish, black-purple in color, and certainly don't resemble an egg (although nowadays we have eggplants in various colors and shapes). And we didn't adapt the word from another language: the French (aubergine), Spanish (berenjena) and Italian (melanzana) words for this vegetable are nothing like "eggplant."

Eggplants originated in India and by 5000 BC were found in China, Africa, and the Mediterranean region. Much later, the first variety of eggplant introduced to England (in the 1500s) was an ornamental white variety with fruits about the size and shape of a chicken egg, and hence the name. The British subsequently dropped the use of "eggplant" and borrowed the French "aubergine" in its place. As far as I know, Americans and Canadians are the only English-speakers who still use "eggplant," with the Australians and New Zealanders following the British example.

Fresh green things for salads can be difficult to find at this time of year when lettuce is often high-priced and poor quality. Cabbage is generally reasonable and holds its condition well, so I often make cole slaw instead. This version of cole slaw seems to be very well-liked - maybe it's because it is quite different from the usual cole slaw (I don't use a mayonnaise-based dressing). This will keep in good condition several days in the fridge.

Pat's Cole Slaw

Salad:

• One small green cabbage, cored and cut into quarters - I like savoy cabbage best, but regular cabbage is also good here.
• One large (or two small) sweet bell peppers, any color (red, green, yellow, orange)
• Two large carrots, peeled
• One small or large (20-oz) can of crushed pineapple packed in its own juice

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup cider vinegar or lemon juice
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• some of the juice from the pineapple, if you wish

The cole slaw will keep well in the fridge for a few days.

Think small.
Planting tiny seeds in the small space given you
Can change the whole world or,
At the very least, your view of it.
- Linus Mundy

Regards,
Pat