Creative Ways To Garden

By BethAnne Brink-Cox House and Home Feature Writer

Time was, if you had a big enough yard, you had a garden. Maybe it was the Word War II Victory Garden that kind of hung on for the next generation; maybe it was you lived on a farm, so of course you had a garden! A neat, orderly patch, straight lines, many rows. (And in a surprisingly short time you’d be spending some extra hot days canning the fruits of your labor.)

Gardening has taken on all kinds of shapes and styles these days, though, from hydroponic to raised beds, living walls and everything in between. Emily Kresca oversees the Purdue Extension Master Gardener Program in Kosciusko County; her official title is Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Educator.

When asked what if you don’t have a yard? What if you do, but you’re not allowed to garden because you rent? What if you do, but it’s so small it seems hopeless? Kresca said, “We talk a lot about small container gardening. You don’t have to buy lots of pots for container gardening, either. Basically, you can turn anything that will hold dirt and has holes for water drainage into a way to grow things creatively.”

Starting plants in eggshells? Newspaper pots? “That would be taught in our Master Gardener classes. Peatpots are popular, too. Paper and such decompose, having the compost in the soil adds more nutrients.”

The Master Gardener Classes equip those who have attended the 14 week course to work in the community, sharing what they’ve learned. Kresca said, “We’ve gone to schools and showed the kids how to make windowsill gardens.”

It’s been suggested if children choose and raise their own vegetables, they’ll be more likely to eat them and that theory is certainly worth a try! She knows what she’s talking about.

Look at any Pinterest page or gardening site; go to home and garden shows and shops. Ideas are everywhere. Have you heard about straw bale gardening? A straw bale makes a great growing medium; it’s a raised bed in which soil, compost and plants are all inside the bale.

Kresca said, “I’ve seen when we talk about small container gardening that some will buy a bag of soil, just ordinary stuff you can buy in the store and they cut a square in the top and poke holes in the bottom and add plants!” Tires, bathtubs, barrels and buckets are often used today. The possibilities are endless.

How about getting creative as in planting seeds from food you’ve eaten, sprouting garlic, onions or potatoes, or bottoms of celery? Kresca said, “I know there are a few of them who do that to get the most of the crop.”

Food prices being what they are now, this may be something a lot more people try to do this summer. It’s not hard to grow your own sprouts, either; a jar in a sunny windowsill is a good way to start.

Gardens for condo dwellers or renters can be managed too, especially if you have a deck. Look for dwarf varieties of the things you want to plant; potatoes, chard, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, peppers, summer squash all do well in containers and so do herbs.

And for fun you can go even smaller: miniature vegetables! Mini lettuce, baby broccoli, snack sized sweet peppers and miniature peas. You don’t have to have bushels of produce; you might just want to guarantee the freshest of salads all summer long. And if you do have a yard, albeit small, it can look incredibly lush if you have a fence: you can hang bags of soil, burlap is a popular look, or something as simple as a plastic milk or juice bottle, fitted with a loop to hang and holes drilled for drainage on the posts.

It gives the illustration of window boxes, especially if you’ve filled them with trailing plants or exuberantly blooming flow- ers. You can also plant herb gardens in rain gutters and attach them to siding on the back side of your house or garage.

Kresca said for those who don’t know where to start, can’t envision, “Part of what I would do if the homeowner calls, I could make a house visit. If it’s some- thing I need to visually see and can’t get the info over the phone or email or some such, I’ll go to their house and show them what would work and where.” Tap into this knowledge, grab some seeds and start a compost going; this could be your healthiest and most delicious summer ever. n