BOOK REVIEW - Permaculture in Pots

Permaculture in Pots – How to grow food in small urban spaces

Juliet Kemp (London, UK – Zone 9)

Beyond some permaculture basics the format is a calendar of container garden activities, each featuring an herb of the month. Is it unconventional to start the calendar in November, though the supplemental information on soil and worm composting makes it as good a place as any to begin. Herbs are thoughtfully chosen to the corresponding month – in respect to the seasonality of both plant & use.

She gets the small right! There’s good advice specific to apartment dwellers and renters in very urban spaces. One good point in this regard is attracting pollinators for plants like tomatoes, squash and blueberries that require bees or other insects to make their fruit. I use containers in a yard in the city with lots of different plants flowering at different times with different sized blooms within and surrounding my yard, along with a good hedgerow along the fence. Thus I have not come across this problem, however her London examples lead me to believe this is likely in such urban jungles. The bees have been successful in keeping me from bumbling around in their stead, spreading fairy dust to make Cinderella’s pumpkins myself...but she outline how you might make this compensation if needed.

How this book makes use of, or speaks to, permaculture specifically…

Bringing the concept of permaculture to the small realm of containers is necessarily difficult. Kemp does manage to do this mostly through multiples references to big picture thinking, concept of "whole in the part", zones away from the house - as containers are fantastic is being in the nearest zone 1, compost/soil fertility as emphasized mainly through worms, importance of site selection and observation, zonal considerations (and how that related to the permie focus on perennials).

Her initial audience may be limited, but a broader application of the core/fundamentals she presents is greatly usable for everyone growing in containers or small spaces. Containers are on the reused/found/cheap/practical side throughout the book (right down to a garbage bag in a good-sized box to address the special peculiarities of growing potatoes). Though this does make for a reliance on plastics (and I question some of the health effects of hot plastic) the antioxidant superiority of fresh veg could cancel out or even greatly exceed the risk. It is for each gardener to decide. At times, Haitian refugees-in-their-own-country due to devastating earthquakes were growing food in tires because it was the reality imposed upon them to make ground to feed themselves.

A great thing she added to a container book, let alone a gardening book was Heat Zones. The mention of it intrigued me, and when I investigated further I found that it is the counterbalance to the USDA Zones you are used to hearing about. Portland and Houston are both in Zone 8 where the excessive minimum temperature is expected to be from 15 to 20 degrees F, however the heat zones are radically different as they represent the average number of days above 86 degrees F (30 degrees C). Portland is in Zone 1, where less than one day above 86 degrees is the norm, whereas Houston is in Zone 9, where on average  a whopping 121 to 150 scorching days can be expected. Check an upcoming post for what that means. A good book should always pique your curiosity to learn further though, and this one definitely did that.

Overall: 4/5

Points for: Seasonal Recipes, Herb of the Month, Foraging Tips, Succinct plans for laying out growing areas on a balcony, numerous how-to’s including self-watering containers and a cold frame.

Celebrate Spring!

It might not feel like it in your neck of the woods, but today is the vernal equinox - aka the first day of spring!  A time when day and night are equal.  As I write this a shaft of sunlight is breaking through the torrential downpour that we have been getting since late yesterday.  Maybe there is hope after all.

While your garden containers might look like this - or worse if you live north or east of the Pacific Northwest - there are some springy thinks that you can do in the meantime while you wait for the garden to awaken.

Many of the spring blooming bulbs and other plants can withstand a little more cold than your average blooms.  Crocus, Narcissus (including daffodils), Primula, pansies, tulips, and dwarf irises are all good choices for a pop of color at this time when we need it most.  These are usually found cheaply outside of all manner of stores this time of year to entice you into Spring Fever.  And while most could theoretically come back again next spring, many people treat them like annuals and turf them into the compost once the blooms have faded and we move into more temperate climes.

Another great plant for spring is the hellebore, and this can be treated more like an investment.  The beautiful cream, pink, purple or green flowers, streaked with tiny flecks, are one of the first perennials to bloom in late winter/early spring.  The bloom time is long - mine has be going for a month and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon - and is followed by handsome palmate (five-lobed) evergreen leaves.  This has the added bonus of creating a nice dark green backdrop to whatever blooms next, rather than creating a 'hole' in the garden that occurs after spring bulbs have withered.  You could most definitely grow hellebores in a container, though I would tend towards one with thicker sides for better insulation, or even wrapping the pot in burlap for a charming rustic look while adding some protection from the cold. They are great in part-shade, and are great underneath large deciduous trees.

Speaking of under trees, I like to add containers there to have the benefit of plants and color, while not being frustrated by digging around large roots, trying to shoehorn in plants.  An added bonus is that the contained plants don't have to compete with the tree for water, a feat which they would undoubtedly loose.  The tree also provides a slightly warmer microclimate, which is great to exploit for 'extending the season' so to speak - shrinking winter by extending spring and fall.

These containers happen to also be by my front steps, and so provide a nice heart-warming touch of spring where guests, passersby, the mailman and I can all enjoy it!  I planted up two, 12" diameter containers with an assortment of springy things.  The third container (under fir boughs) is a shallow bowl that holds tuberous begonias, which I am trying to overwinter successfully for a second year (last year was by total fluke, and the fact that we did not get a killing frost).  I am slowly removing more layers of boughs to acclimate them to the warming temperatures, while still protecting them from the swings of spring weather.  I check periodically to see if there are green shoots, at which point I'll remove more boughs to let more light in.  Keep your fingers crossed!

The forward-most brown, 12" container includes:

• 3 - 4" yellow primroses 
• 1 - 6-pack of burgundy pansies  

The primulas are grouped in the center.  Take care to arrange these such that their shapes complement each other to form what looks like one central plant or mass of flowers.  If one is a little smaller, place it in the spot where it will get the most sun (usually at the front but not always). This will give it a chance to catch up.  Then arrange the pansies evenly spaced around the outer edge. I'm expecting that the pansies will grow to fill in the gaps, but you could also add another 6-pack worth of pansies in the same or a contrasting color to have an instantly full pot.

In the rear 12" container, I did a 'front-facing' design with taller plants, at the back as it is really only viewed from three sides.  It includes:

• 1 - 4" pot of full-sized daffodils
• 1 - 4" pot of mini daffodils
• 1 - 4" pot of orange tulips
• 3 - 4" pots of yellow primroses
• 1 - 6-pack of burgundy pansies

Both daffodils are at the back as they are the tallest, tulips in the middle back as a medium height layer, and primroses in the middle in an inverted triangle around the tulips.  The pansies ring along the front edge, around the front three-quarters of the pot.

Happy Planting! Happy Spring!

I hope this gives you some ideas on how to enjoy some spring blooms while we wait for the whole symphony to warm up.  In the mean time, plan a Vernal Feast with Very Good Food!

Caprine Containers

While in Hawai'i recently I was enthralled by a friend's creative use of skulls as 'containers', or rather hosts, to all kinds of epiphytes (orchids & airplants) and even some succulents.

Hung outside in all manner of form and orientation, the natural pukas [1] in the skulls form a myriad of spots to tuck in small plants.  These creative containers also very slowly release nutrients to the plants as wind, rain, sun and time erode them.

If you are wondering about their origins, these skulls are primarily from goats, of which there are many feral herds on the Big Island, and which often have unfavorable encounters with traffic.  The heads are then buried in an ant hill for cleaning of any soft tissue, and then planted with Phalaenopsis spp., Mokara spp., Oncidium spp., Tiarella spp., and others.  Planting in a skull might not be your cup of tea, but it is a great example of renewal in the cycle of life.

For another round find in Hawai’i, check out a Very Good Food recipe turning beautiful yellow liliko’i (Passiflora edulis var. flavicarp; yellow passion fruit) into juice…and martinis!

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[1] Hawai’ian word for hole or opening