Container Gardening 2- Thrillers, Fillers and Spillers

Thrillers, chillers and Spillers are the tenants for ornamental containers.  Simply put, thrillers are those plants that have the "WOW" factor.  Fillers are the ones that will fill out the containers, preferably something that will enhance the thriller.  Spillers are the trailing plants at the outer edge to soften the lines of the planting.

Right now I'm in the process if the planning the six sixteen inch pots that separate the paved area of the pool and the lawn.  There is a 2 foot band of white stones that they sit on.



In the above photo the thrillers are 'Fresh Look Red' or 'Fresh Look Yellow' celosia just about to bloom.  The fillers are 'Summer Jewels Red' salvia, 'Moonsong Deep Orange' marigolds and 'Merlin Blue Morn' Petunia.  The spiller is 'Carpet of Snow' alysum.



Right now I'm thinking of 'New Look' celosia for the thriller, 'Peter Pan Gold' and 'Profusion Double Gold' zinnias, 'Janie Gold' Marigold for the filler.  The spiller would be 'Peaches' and 'Carpet of Snow' alysum.

Another idea I'm considering is 'Jams n' Jellies Blackberry' vinca as the thriller, 'Zahara Starlight Rose' zinnia, 'Frillytunia White' petunia and 'Ideal Violet' dianthus as the fillers, 'Rosie O'Day' alyssum as the spiller.

The same principal can also be used with a group of containers, with individual types in each pot.

Above,  a grouping of four pots.  'Floradale Scarlet' zinnia is is the thriller.  'Black Velvet Scarlet' geranium (not visible at this angle), 'Fire Chief' petunia are the fillers.  the spiller is my favorite, 'Carpet of Snow' alyssum.

This year I'm going to try and apply these principles to groupings of edible and ornamental containers.

If you are going to plant some containers give this principle a try.  The results are worth it!

Have To Have It!

Every once in a while a plant comes out that, on first sight, I have to have.  Yesterday I found one, vinca 'Jams n' Jellies Blackberry', a recently awarded 2012 All America Selection.

Vinca 'Jams n' Jellies Blackberry'

I'm thinking that these may be the focal point of my pot's surrounding the pool, maybe with orange marigolds.  Now I only have to find the seeds from a company that doesn't charge $6 to ship one or two packs of seed.

First Sprouts of the Season

Can spring be far behind?

Last week I sowed six cups with 'Ambition' shallots.  The seeds were from 2011 and never planted.  Knowing onion seeds have a limited shelf life I sowed the six cups as a experiment.  One week later each cup has sprouted so I sowed 12 more today.

'Ambition' shallot seedlings.

We are finally getting a real taste of winter.  High today was 25 deg Fahrenheit with a wind chill of 12 deg.  Thankfully this will only last through tomorrow.  After this very mild winter it will be galling if that groundhog turns out to be right.

Evolution of a Plan- Adapting a Victory Garden Plan

I've always been a huge fan of Victory Garden memorabilia.  Twice during the first half of the last century it was your civic duty to plant and raise vegetables.  During WW1 they were called War Gardens and the term Victory Garden was adopted during WW2.  Over the years I have acquired a few pieces of this memorabilia.  The Victory Garden Handbook has many plans, one for a miniature Victory Garden, shown below.  The garden is 11ft x 15ft, easily adapted to my space of 9ft x 16ft.

I've always wanted to plant a Victory Garden based on this plan using vintage varieties from that era.  Maybe next year for the vintage varieties...

Below is how the plan evolved.

From the Victory Garden Handbook

Spring- Adapted to the garden area.

 There is too much space for cabbage, and I really could use a path down the center to adapt the plan to wide rows.

Summer- Adapted to the garden area.

 There is too much space for turnips, and I really could use a path down the center to adapt the plan to wide rows.

Spring 2- Adding a path in the center.

 Adding a path down the center and the first tweak of the crops.

Summer 2- Adding a path in the center.

 Adding a path down the center.

Spring 3- Tweaking the crops to suit my needs.

 I don't use Swiss chard, it is replaced by snow peas.  There is a lot of unused space for the tomatoes and peppers.  I can now add arugula, more lettuce and Thai greens.  We don;t eat radishes so they are replaced with spinach and the onions are replaced with shallots.

Summer 3- Tweaking the crops to suit my needs.

Fro summer there are more bush beans, turnips replaced with summer lettuce, kale and collards have been added.

The only thing missing is space for pole beans, squash and cucumbers.  The area has a 6ft fence on two sides so I may be able to squeeze in the cucumbers and pole beans.  A butternut squash or two may work at the base of the tomatoes.

Seventy years later, the original plan seems to have been remained useful. 

I may use this plan, or the one I previously wrote about, or another one I'm currently developing based on a real Potager plan.  One of the great things about gardening is you are always dreaming...

Seed Saving and the Tiny Garden

There are many reasons to save seeds.  Genetic preservation seems to be the most common theme one sees when researching this subject.  A good reason, but not the one that motivates me.  I try to save seed for a few reasons.  The main one is the variety is scarce commercially, my purple podded Pretty peas and Freezonian peas are examples.  Economy is a factor that has been influencing me as well.  With the cost of everything rising and postage for most seed companies at ridiculous rates, my seed orders have decreased dramatically in the last few years.  The best reason to save seed, in my not so humble opinion, is that after a few seasons you can develop strain that is uniquely adapted to your conditions and micro climates.  After all, you are only going to save seeds from your most vigorous, healthy and productive plants.  A strain that is adapted to your unique growing conditions is very easy to develop.

Now to the dilemma.  When you have a tiny garden space and want to to save seeds of certain crops, you are taking ways space from future harvests. Spring crops are the worst offenders.  I leave my peas in the garden until early July to ripen the seeds.  This backs up the next crop by a month.  I don't save lettuce seed for this reason either.  Small garden devoted to seed saving would seem to be the solution, but then I'd have to worry about cross pollination etc.  Also I have enough garden beds already.  This mountain is a rocky one!  Every bed must be hand dug and an area of 3' x 3' feet yields at least a pickle bucket of rocks the size of a quarter or larger.  Mulling over this dilemma this passed week and also thinking about my last post the bells went off in my head...CONTAINERS!!!

I can plant a container each of Ruby, Lingue de Canarino, Galactic lettuces and when they start to bud distribute them to out of the way spots and then harvest the seed.  No taking up garden space, proper isolation distances and I can select for late bolting.  I can do the same with my English peas and also select for heat resistance.  As an added bonus I can plant a pot of Pretty and Freezonian combined to see if I can get a cross of the two the try and sweeten up Pretty.  This strategy would also work for flowers.

I'll be updating my spring plans this weekend to add containers for seed saving and tweak the PSP.

Let me know what you think and why you save seeds.

Container Gardening- The Basics

Theresa asked if I had any advice or posts on container gardening.  While I had no specific post, I have lots of advice.

I've been container gardening for at least 30 years.  For 12 years I lived in a series of rented apartments, houses, townhouses.  Most of my gardening during that time was in containers.  I've grown it all- roses, daylilies, annuals, perennials, shrubs, herbs and vegetables.  I still do a lot of planting in pots, as accents around the pool and around the yard.

You can go grow anything in containers, but it does take some work and knowledge to grow things well.

Container Size:  The bigger the better.  I would recommend a minimum of 12" in diameter.  Make sure that they have ample drainage holes.  You may have to add more.

Spacing:  Don't over crowd.  I've seen recommendations for 1.5 plants for each inch of pot diameter.  This is much too crowded.  For my 14" pool pots I usually plant five or six plants. They will fill out fast!

Soil:  Avoid the mixes with moisture control additives, in my climate they retain too much moisture and the plants don't grow well till the end of the season when they are extremely root bound.  For permanent plants I mix my own soil.  This would be a peat based mix, very finely ground bark mulch, perlite and a small amount of compost.  For annual and vegetables I use a good quality peat based mix.  I do not use any thing special for drainage, as long as there are enough drain holes I have no problems.

Water:  I soak mine good upon planting, until a good stream of water exits the bottom.  I keep them just moist until the plants show a good growth spurt and then water on my regular schedule.  In summer as the heat increases and the pots fill roots I may have to water in the morning and the evening.  If the soil is dry a half inch down it's time to water.

Fertilizing:  If you are using a mix that has fertilizer added DO NOT feed for at least a month.  After this time I start to add a quarter strength liquid fertilizer every two weeks.  After 60 days I up it half strength.  For mixes with no added fertilizer, follow the directions on a good liquid fertilizer.

Spacing of Pots:  Give them enough room to breathe and fill out.

Caveats:  Watch the height of the plants.  If the pot is too small and the plant too tall, they will blow over in every strong wind. 

Special Note for Vegetables:  I have tried mixed pots and pots of single species.  The pots of a single type always do better.  If the pot is large enough you can use large cages, teepee's, poles whatever you can dream up.

Here are some results:

Vegetables on the pad 6/28/2008

Vegetables on the pad 1 week later 07/03/2008



Rose Brass Band 06/02/2006



Rose Artistry 06/24/2006

Zinnias in 14" pot 07/30/2010

Daylily Border Sentry 06/23/2010. this has been in the same 18" pot for over 10 years!  It has never been repotted.

I could go on and on with examples.

This is just scratching the surface with basic information.  If there are any specific questions, just ask.

Seeds From Granny

There's nothing like getting a package from Granny,  In this case it was from Annie's Granny.

The seeds from Annie's Granny.

Now I can finish planning my summer garden, 

Thank you Granny!