BC Women's Institute

View Original

Container Garden

salad stuffDoes gardening often sound over whelming? Too much work? All that digging,weeding, watering, the constant wear and tear on our hands, backs and knees. Sometimes that can be too much to deal with but the alternative is having no fresh garden grown vegetables.  As most of us know the produce in grocery stores cannot compare with the taste of homegrown vegetables or the convenience of having your own. So what can a person do? Well how about trying a container garden this year and grow your own vegetables for salads.Not only is it much easier than planting a regular garden, but you can also position your container in a convenient spot, so that it is only a matter of opening a door to get at it. There is hardly any weeding involved, less bending ( your container can sit on a table), easy to plant and harvest.This idea was brought forth at the Triennial Convention in Prince George last year, by our Provincial Agriculture Conveners, to hold a Container Salad Garden Contest. It was thought that this would be learning experience in gardening and perhaps encourage members to garden on a small scale. The convention was in June, so for many people it was too late in the season to start, but there was a lot of expressions of interest for starting in 2012.Competition Guidelines:- Container of your choice, not to exceed 36" x 24" x 12" deep. The container may be made of metal, wood, an old pot or kettle.- No less than 4 varieties of vegetables that can make up a salad- A garden journal must be kept, with pictures, dates of  seeding and transplanting, names of varieties, any pest or weeding problems. Any successful or not so successful activities that occurred during the growing season.Remember: The contest is only on the Journal and Pictures.Our Provincial Agriculture, Rural Renewal & Safety Conveners are Ruth Veiner and Jessie Anderson. If you would like more information please contact Ruth or Jessie. If you cannot contact them, call the Provincial Office so Betty can pass the message on.