Salad Bowl Container Gardening

The topic in many places is the economy and how to stretch your dollar further. For many of us gardening offers the opportunity to decrease spending and give our families deliciously healthy food.

I know some people have the space for huge gardens, but not all of us have the luxury of huge gardening spaces. I've been researching and interviewing people on how you can help your wallet by decreasing your grocery budget with container gardening.

Containers offer many advantages and can be adapted to fit in many ways. Containers offer space flexibility. With a container you can move, replant your containers to suit the season. You can even grow inside your home with some of the stackable pots.

Tomatoes are one of the easiest plants to grow in a container. Even as fall approaches there is still time in many locations to grow some tomatoes until the first frost hits.

When you're using containers move the plants in a sheltered area so if the nights do get chilly the tomatoes won't suffer. Here in San Antonio I'm not anticipating cooler weather till November but I still remember the Maine autumns.

If your growing season is really short you may want to consider one of the grape tomato plants as you can move them inside if you use a grow light. Other varieties will take over the room you put them in.

Don't ever ask my wife about the killer tomato plants I grew in the basement in Indiana. Stacking pots can work well for small herbs, greens and tomatoes.

Salad greens and sprouts tend to be pricey but you can decrease the cost by growing some in containers. Greens like cooler weather as they tend to sprout those ungainly tall seed stalks when it gets too hot.

When you plant the seeds now put a thick layer of mulch to protect the seedlings from the hot sun. The sun tends to bake the soil so it's difficult for the seedlings to pop out. Remember to keep the soil moist till the seedlings pop out.

If your growing season is short look at some of the small hydroponic tanks such as the AeroGarden. You can grow many of the leaf lettuce and get many crops throughout the winter. And the herbs you grow make winter meals taste so special.

The newer AeroGarden makes it even easier for the experienced gardener to regulate the lights and water solution. This makes it simple to use your own seeds instead of some of the AeroGarden seed pod packets.

So if you haven't started your fall and winter garden there's still time. Your local nursery is likely to have some sales so drop by. Just think you could be serving your own fresh greens and tomatoes this fall and winter.

All in a gardener's day,