I’m notorious for my black thumb, so when I proudly announced that I was going to grow a garden this year, it didn’t come as a surprise when my friends laughed. I was determined, though. I was going to have homegrown tomatoes if it killed me! The good news: I’m still alive. And, as the season winds down, I’ve found that I’ve definitely learned some valuable lessons.
Upfront Costs Are a Wallet Buster
Since I’m completely new to gardening, I decided to start off in containers. I figured that would be an easier alternative to digging up a corner of my yard. On my first trip to the garden store, I picked up two containers, soil, a watering can and some starter plants. It set me back about $100. I figured I had everything I needed, and went on my merry way.
Of course, any experienced gardener can see that I was missing quite a few essentials.
Since that initial trip, I’ve purchased tomato stakes, a trellis, fertilizer, tomato-specific fertilizer, mulch and a watering wand. All in all, I’ve spent $200. These are some expensive veggies.
You Have to Water Every Day
The thing about containers is they lose moisture quickly, especially when placed in full sun. A few days ago, it rained in the morning. I figured that meant I wouldn’t need to water. WRONG! By the end of the day, my tomatoes were wilting. When growing plants in containers, it’s imperative that you water every day — sometimes twice a day when it’s particularly hot.
Problems Can Be Invisible
My cucumbers took off right out of the gate. They seemed to be doing so much better than my tomatoes, and produced fruit much earlier than I expected. I harvested three lovely cucumbers, sliced them up, popped ’em in my mouth, and promptly spit them back out. Every single cucumber was incredibly bitter. It was like biting into hard, crunchy nail polish remover.
Horrified, I searched Google for an answer. Turns out, despite looking perfectly lovely, my cucumber plants were stressed. When cucumbers plants are stressed, they produce chemicals called cucurbitacins, which are very bitter. There are a number of causes for this stress, but mine was due to temperatures being in the high 90s for over a week. I simply moved the container to a spot where the plants would receive filtered sunshine, yet had enough shade to remain cool.
Pests Will Be a Problem
When I told my mother about my garden, her response was, “You’re going to get earwigs.” I scoffed. Why would earwigs be a problem? My plants were in containers!
Guess who has an earwig problem?
It just goes to show you, even in your 30s, when you think you really do know everything, your parents still have you beat.
I’ve controlled my earwigs using oil traps. In the past week, I’ve killed more than 200 of the little suckers, all without the need for pesticides. While many of these traps call for lids and complicated concoctions of oil and other ingredients, my traps are lidless and only contain vegetable oil. They seem to be working just fine.
As the season comes to a close, I’m finding myself looking forward to next year. I’ll take the lessons I learned from my first year of container gardening, apply them to my new garden, and undoubtedly make a few more mistakes (but learn a little more!). I hope my lessons can be of some use to you, and if not, that you at least got a good laugh out of it. Happy gardening, friends!