Stephanie Reyes - iGarden101

Gardening with Allen: Cut Back Heat-damaged Plants

August 24, 2021 By Stephanie Reyes 1 Comment

Heat may have damaged many plants over the summer. Container plants have suffered the most, and the heat did not spare trees. With all of their dried leaves and dead flowers, you might consider throwing away those plants. But don’t do that, because it’s not over for these plants.

Key takeaways:

Plants have a transpiration system wherein water evaporates from pores in the leaves to cool down, like how we sweat. The leaves at the edge of the plants are damaged first since the plants cannot provide them with enough water to cool off.
To help your plants recover from the heat, you may remove the dried leaves to stimulate new growth. You may also cut the stem just above the first undamaged leaf so the plant can regrow again.
You can temporarily keep your container plants under shade or place a white, cloth-like sheet over them to reflect sunlight.

If you want to read more about saving heat-damaged plants, check out this link: https://www.columbian.com/news/2021/jul/17/gardening-with-allen-cut-back-heat-damaged-plants/.

How to Grow Your Own Backyard Berries in Containers

August 21, 2021 By Stephanie Reyes Leave a Comment

Growing your own fruit garden is a cheap way to get your tasty fruits right from your backyard. Berries can grow in spaces like window boxes, hanging baskets, and pots on your patio. Growing berries in containers have plenty of benefits, such as little to no weeding and keeping slugs away from your fruits.

Key takeaways:

Birds love to eat berries as we do, so it is essential to net your berries if you want to keep birds from eating them.
Bigger plants mean more berries. So whatever berry plant you bring home, you must repot it in a container twice its size.
Taking care of container-grown berries is like cultivating in-ground crops. You need to prune, fertilize, and adequately water the plants for vigorous growth.

If you want to read more, check out the full article here: https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/how-to-grow-your-own-backyard-berries-in-containers/.

Permaculture Techniques for Container Gardening

August 19, 2021 By Stephanie Reyes Leave a Comment

After Molly’s mother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer, she and her husband decided to eat healthier. But, unfortunately, organic food is much more expensive than usual food, and Molly’s grocery bills are out of budget. To top it off, she lives in a rental home along with her family, and the owners told them not to tear up the lawn. So if she can’t grow a farm in the backyard, what could she possibly do? Luckily, the answer is simple: container gardening.

Key takeaways:

When growing your container garden, why not try out some permaculture methods? If you don’t know what permaculture is, it is a design system based on observation. Permaculture means going beyond quick-fix solutions like pesticides which do more harm than good.
You must be wondering, is container gardening easy? Well, yes and no. Growing your food in pots comes with pros and cons:
- If you don’t need much yield, container gardening is the way to go. Container gardening means you get to grow plants in a semi-controlled environment. Container gardening is also convenient since you can move your crops around your home.
- The best place for plants is in the ground. So it can take a lot more time and struggle to grow plants in containers. It’s also a lot more time-consuming despite the tiny amount of yield you receive from it.
When container gardening, you must keep these tips in mind:
- Make sure your pot is the appropriate size for the plant.
- Using the best soil suitable for your plant is essential.
- Choose smaller plants for your garden.
- Allow some plants to vine up on a trellis to produce more yield while saving space.
- If you want to beautify your container garden, consider arranging your plants with a thriller, a filler, and a spiller.
The best plants to grow in a container include herbs, peas & beans, beets, and microgreens.

If you want to learn more about container gardening with permaculture techniques, visit this link: https://www.kitchenstewardship.com/permaculture-container-gardening/.