Rose Marie Nichols McGee - McGee & Stuckeys Bountiful Container: Create Container Gardens of Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, and Edible Flowers

ALSO BY ROSE MARIE NICHOLS MCGEE

Basic Herb Cookery

ALSO BY MAGGIE STUCKEY

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Basics for Absolute Beginners

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The Complete Herb Book

The Houseplant Encyclopedia

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Western Trees: A Field Guide

Green Plants for Gray Days: Houseplants
for the Pacific Northwest

McGEE & STUCKEYS

A Container Garden of Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, and Edible Flowers

________________

ROSE MARIE NICHOLS McGEE and MAGGIE STUCKEY

Illustrations by Michael A. Hill

WORKMAN PUBLISHING NEW YORK

Text copyright 2002 by Rose Marie Nichols McGee and Maggie Stuckey
Illustrations copyright 2002 by Michael A. Hill
Cover photographs by Steve Cridland
Typesetting by Book Publishing Enterprises, Inc.

Design by Paul Hanson and Elizabeth Johnsboen

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproducedmechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopyingwithout written permission of the publisher. Published simultaneously in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son Limited.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

eISBN 9780761166115

On the front cover: The authors hold some of the many vegetables that can happily be grown in containers. The large purple flowering plant at the far left is agapanthus; dont eat it.

The containersTop (left to right): pansies, dianthus, lavender. Left (left to right): Bright Lights Swiss chard; lettuce mix; marjoram, oregano. Right (left to right): Cherry tomatoes, golden sage, sweet basil, peppers, red Swiss chard. Lower left (left to right): sweet savory; rosemary topiary; thyme, chives, marjoram, and rosemary; sweet bay. On the spine: Rosemary, marjoram, golden sage, Kent Beauty oregano.

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Time spent working in your garden will not be deducted from your life.

M. S.

In one sense, every gardener who came before us played a role in this book, for the knowledge passed down through time from person to person is the core of every garden book ever written. We acknowledge, with respect, our debt to them all.

Three specific individuals are owed profound thanks for their help in this project. Jim Gilbert, owner of both Northwoods Nursery (wholesale) and One Green World (retail mail order), is a mine of knowledge about fruit trees; it is our good fortune that he is also generous in sharing what he knows. Two experienced gardeners and garden writersTeri Dunn, who lives near Boston, and Carolyn Clark, of Portland, Oregonpitched in with valuable and much-appreciated assistance. Thanks to all for your good information and good cheer.

Thanks, too, to the creative cooks who kindly shared their recipes: Walter Chandoha, Rosalind Creasy, Thomas DeBaggio, Peter Kopcinski, Jan Roberts-Dominguez, Bruce Naftaly, Carole Saville, and Rene Shepherd. And to Barbara Blossom Ashmun of Portland, Oregon, author and garden designer, for her rosy suggestions.

PART ONE:
YOU AND YOUR GARDEN

CHAPTER 1
MANAGING YOUR SPACE

CHAPTER 2
PLANNING FOR GOOD TASTE

CHAPTER 3
MAKING YOUR GARDEN BEAUTIFUL

PART TWO:
DOWN-TO-EARTH BASICS

CHAPTER 4
HARDWARE: CONTAINERS, TRELLISES, TOOLS, AND STORAGE

CHAPTER 5
SOFTWARE: SOIL, SEEDS, AND PLANTS

CHAPTER 6
KEEPING A HEALTHY GARDEN

PART THREE:
PLANTS FOR THE BOUNTIFUL CONTAINER

CHAPTER 7
VEGETABLES

CHAPTER 8
HERBS

CHAPTER 9
FRUITS

CHAPTER 10
EDIBLE FLOWERS

Several years ago my mother, Edith Nichols, attended a family wedding in Greece. She returned home with many happy stories and descriptions of fruiting gardens and fresh-picked figs served right from the tree. In particular, she could hardly stop talking about her sister-in-laws balcony garden. In the heart of downtown Athens, my Aunt Athena was growing three vigorous tomato plants, a few cucumbers, a small lemon tree, and several herbsall in containers. Whenever the mood struck, she could simply step out onto the balcony and harvest the makings of a Greek salad, absolutely fresh. What so amazed my mother was the productivity: That little space was feeding all those people!

Inspired by Aunt Athenas success, and mindful of the pleasure my mother derived from it, the next summer we helped her plan a deck garden of her own. She was a lifelong gardener, but arthritis had increasingly curtailed her activity level. As a family project, we built a small garden on her deck, using containers raised to a height that she could manage. Here she grew vegetables, herbs, and colorful flowers, and even when the famous Oregon weather kept her inside, she enjoyed the sight of her plants through the windows.

At my own home, I also have a deck garden set within a larger garden. On and around the deck, I have containers of alpine strawberries, small-fruited tomatoes, spicy peppers, and herbs. I cannot begin to count the meals our family has enjoyed on that deck over the years, in the shelter of several large evergreens, but I do remember the many times that we snapped off sprigs of fresh herbs to add to the chickens on the grill or plucked a few more tomatoes for the salad.

We also are fortunate to have an oversize yard, with plenty of space for all kinds of gardening. We grow vegetables in several beds out back, and somehow that always seemed to be the serious gardening. The plants on the deck, while equally productive and healthy, seemed a more playful and personal expression of the pleasures of gardening.

Then I met Maggie, a great gardener who was planting her new vegetable garden in containers. She was determined to incorporate the best plant varieties and gardening techniques in this endeavor. We had much to discuss.

ROSE MARIE NICHOLS McGEE

Corvallis, Oregon

POSTSCRIPT: In the spring of 1999, as we were beginning the serious work on this book, my mother passed away, I wish that I could feel philosophical about it, saying something profound about the cycle of life in all of nature, but the fact is that I still miss her terribly. The small deck garden we built for her still stands, and I will tend the plants as long as I can, until 1 pass it and her house into the care of a new owner. RMNM

About two years ago, for reasons that made sense at the time, I moved from a house I had lived in for twenty-some years, with a garden I had nurtured and loved for almost as long, into a condominium whose only garden space is a concrete patio about the size of a picnic table. In my old garden I had spent most of my time with herbs and vegetables, and in my new home I wasnt about to give that up, at least not without a fight. If I couldnt have my in-the-ground garden, I decided, I could do it all with containers.