By Melinda Myers

 

Elevate your gardens to waist height for convenience and easy access. Elevated gardens are easy on your back and knees and are perfect for the patio, balcony, deck or any area where a bit of planting space is desired. Place them near your kitchen door, grill or table for easy cooking and serving access. You'll be able to plant, weed and harvest with minimal bending or even from a chair.

 

Purchase one on wheels or add casters to the legs of your elevated garden for added mobility. Then wheel it into the sun or shade as needed each day or out of the way when you entertain.

 

Set the garden in place first. Once it's filled with soil, it will be very heavy and difficult to move. Those gardening on a balcony should confirm the space will hold the weight of the elevated garden you select when filled with soil and mature plants.

 

Make sure you have easy access to water. Since this is basically a container, you will need to check the soil moisture daily and water thoroughly as needed. Fill the elevated garden with a well-drained planting mix that holds moisture while providing needed drainage.

 

Incorporate a low nitrogen slow-release fertilize at planting. Slow-release fertilizers provide plants with needed nutrients for several months, eliminating the need for weekly fertilization.

 

Grow a variety of your favorite herbs and vegetables like basil, parsley, compact tomatoes, and peppers. Support vining plants or try compact ones such as Mascotte compact bush bean. Add color and dress up your planter with flowers like edible nasturtiums and trailing herbs like thyme and oregano which will cascade over the edge of the planter.

 

Maximize your growing space by planting quick-maturing vegetables like radishes, beets and lettuce in between tomatoes, peppers, cabbage and other vegetables that take longer to reach their mature size. You'll be harvesting the short-season vegetables just as the bigger plants need the space.

 

Further increase your garden's productivity with succession plantings. Fill vacant spaces that are left once a row or block of vegetables is harvested. Add more planting mix if needed.

 

Select seeds and transplants that will have time to reach maturity for harvesting before the growing season ends. Broccoli, cabbage, compact Patio Pride peas, lettuce, spinach and other greens taste best when harvested in cooler fall temperatures.

 

Replace weather-worn flowers with cool weather beauties like pansies, nemesias, dianthus, alyssum and snapdragons. Fertilize the whole planter so new plantings and existing plants have the nutrients they need to finish out the season.

 

Protect your fall flowers, herbs and vegetables from hard frosts with floating row covers. These fabrics allow air, light and water through while trapping the heat around the plant.

 

Once you discover the fun, flavor and ease of waist-high gardening, you'll likely make room for more elevated planters for your future gardening endeavors.

 

Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses "How to Grow Anything: Food Gardening for Everyone" DVD set and the nationally syndicated Melinda's Garden Moment TV & radio segments. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine. Myers' web site is www.MelindaMyers.com.

How do fertilizers help with food security?

American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society of America

Consumption of crops is outgrowing the production of crops around the world. Malnutrition and starvation are major international issues. Fertilizers can help growers increase food production, but how? The January 22 Sustainable, Secure Food blog post explains how fertilizers help growers provide nutritious, affordable food for the world's growing population.

According to blogger Amanda Ramcharan, Pennsylvania State University, "Without the use of fertilizers - whether organic or inorganic - we cannot currently feed the world's population. It is estimated that at least 30-50 percent of crop yields globally are attributable to fertilizer application. This makes fertilizers a key ingredient for maintaining food production to meet global population growth. Agronomists continue to develop better management practices to grow enough nutritious, affordable food while protecting the environment."

The blog explains the nature of different fertilizers and their use.

It's not just about yield; it's also about the nutritional content of the food. Ramcharan uses an example of two tomatoes grown in a home garden. "Let's say you plant two tomato plants of the same variety," she writes. "One tomato plant goes into a robust, nutrient-rich soil in one area of your garden. In another area of your garden, you forgot to add compost last fall or didn't add fertilizer. That soil is nutrient-deficient, but looks fine to your eyes. You plant your second tomato there. Both plants yield red, juicy tomatoes that taste the same. But the tomatoes - if tested for nutrients - would be different. The one grown in the healthy soil will have more nutrients for you to consume than the one grown in a poor soil. But you cannot tell that just by looking at the tomatoes! It's also quite likely that your garden will yield fewer tomatoes from the plant grown in nutrient-deficient soil."

To read the complete blog, visit Sustainable, Secure Food at https://sustainable-secure-food-blog.com/2018/01/22/how-do-fertilize...th-food-security/.

Tomball: Rand Hopkins, Monrovia, presents "What's New and Unique in the Plant World," at 10:00 a.m., April 5, at The Arbor Gate, 15635 FM 2920, Tomball. For additional information, visit arborgate.com.

Austin: On April 7, from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Mayfield Park, 3505 W. 35th Street, Austin, will host Trowel & Error, the Spring event that annually attracts gardeners from all over Central Texas to hear experts give time-tested tips for beautiful gardens. Although lectures begin at 10:00, the event "opens" at 9:30 for those early birds who want to purchase Mayfield's hard-to-find heirloom bulbs and perennials for their April gardens and to stroll the garden paths in early morning peacefulness. Sponsored by Friends of the Parks of Austin, Trowel & Error will feature three dynamic and knowledgeable garden experts: 10 a.m., Jay White, contributing writer for Texas Gardener, Masters in Horticulture: "Propagate Like A Pro"; 11 a.m., Daphne Richards, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension horticulturist: "Down to Earth With Daphne: Your Top Questions From Travis County Extension"; Noon, April Rose, Consulting Arborist, Rosewood Arboriculture "Environmental Health To Save Our Trees." Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, Mayfield Park is a favorite site for social events, family picnics and peaceful reflection. The stone-walled gardens around the historic cottage include fish-filled ponds, winding paths among heirloom plants, gregarious peacocks and cozy nooks and niches. Not to be missed at Trowel & Error will be the legendary raffle of "garden goodies." Everyone goes home a winner. It's a wonderful way, rain or shine, to spend a morning learning how to add color into your landscape while relaxing among gregarious peafowl, towering palms, flowering trees and ponds filled with lilies...and for only a $5.00 donation! For more information, contact Neenok@aol.com.

Nacogdoches: Stephen F. Austin State University's SFA Gardens will host its annual Garden Gala Day Plant Sale and SFA Earth Day Celebration from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 7, at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, 2900 Raguet St., in historic Nacogdoches. The sale will feature a variety of hard-to-find, "Texas-tough" plants, including Texas natives, heirlooms, tropicals, perennials, shrubs and trees with an emphasis on pollinator-friendly selections, as well as exclusive SFA introductions. The featured plants are extensively trialed before being offered to the public and are produced by SFA Gardens staff members and volunteers. This popular event benefits the SFA Mast Arboretum, the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, Ruby M. Mize Azalea Garden and Gayla Mize Garden, along with educational programs hosted monthly at the gardens. Educational programs provided at SFA Gardens reach more than 15,000 participants annually. The Earth Day celebration features educational booths and activities for kids of all ages, including yoga and tree ID hikes, free local food, a drum circle and more. The outdoor festival is sponsored by SFA Gardens, the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, The Environmental Awareness Movement student organization and the SFA Campus Sustainability Committee. The celebration is an opportunity for SFA students and the Nacogdoches community to join in furthering the vision of a sustainable campus and community. Parking will be available at the Janice A. Pattillo Early Childhood Research Center, 2428 Raguet St., and visitors are encouraged to arrive early and bring a wagon for their plants. For more information and a list of available plants, call (936) 468-4129 or visit sfagardens.sfasu.edu two weeks before the sale.

Schertz: Saturday, April 7, Guadalupe County Community Garden, Annual Garden and Craft Fair 9 a.m.-2 p.m., 1101 Elbel Road, behind the tax office. Free Garden Tours & Classes. 9 a.m; Building an Elevated Garden, 10 a.m.; Container Gardening, 11 a.m.; Cooking What You Grow. Arts & Crafts, Plant Sales, Free Hot Dogs. Food Drive for Local Food Banks. Crafter Spaces $25 Call Mary 210 317-6202 or Terri 210 659-3315

Tomball: Angela Chandler, The Garden Academy, presents "Plant Power! Gardens that survive and thrive in Gulf Coast Extremes" at 10:00 a.m., April 7, at The Arbor Gate, 15635 FM 2920, Tomball. For additional information, visit arborgate.com.

Austin: Thomas Schroeder, the Sustainable Agriculture Specialist with National Center for Appropriate Technology, Southwest (NCAT), discussing the soil food web - the roles that bacteria, fungi and other micro-organisms play in the soil and how plants and animals are intricately linked into and are the driving units to this system at the April 9 meeting of the Austin Organic Gardener's Club, which meets at the Austin Area Garden Center, 2220 Barton Springs Rd, in Zilker Botanical Gardens the 2nd Monday of each month except December. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for the opportunity to meet, mingle, and ask questions with experienced local gardeners. Club business begins at 7 p.m. , followed by the guest speaker presentation. For more information, visit www.austinorganicgardeners.org .

Georgetown: Colleen Gardner, Executive Director of the Bamberger Ranch (Selah), will speak to the Native Plant Society of Texas on Land Conservation and Restoration on April 12. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension office at 3151 SE Inner Loop Rd., Georgetown. Free and Open.

Houston: "Save That Rose for Next Week!" is the topic of the Houston Rose Society meeting, Thursday, April 12, 7:00 p.m. at the Cherie Flores Garden Pavillon, 1500 Hermann Drive, Houston. The parking lot is Lot C located at Hermann Drive and Crawford Street. Diane Sommers will present the program. Diane is a Master Rosarian from Wisconsin, a Horticultural and Arrangement Judge. She has been the recipient of many ARS awards and active in local rose societies and committees in the American Rose Society. Diane is a candidate for American Rose Society vice president in 2018. She will discuss the technique of drywrapping roses. This technique helps the rosarian save beautiful roses for a special event when they have bloomed too soon. The program will begin at 7:30 p.m. Arrive at 7:00 p.m. for social time and refreshments. Free admission. For more information, visit http://www.houstonrose.org.

Tyler: Master Gardeners at the Library, April 13, 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. "Pass Along Plants" with Smith County Master Gardener, Andie Rathbone. Tyler Public Library, 201 S. College, Tyler. Free and open to the public. For additional information visit www.txmg.org/smith or call 903-590-2980.

Cleburne: Johnson County Master Gardeners Annual Plant Sale, April 14, 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Held in the Sheriff's Posse White House. 1315 S. Main, Cleburne. Plants of North Texas; Tomatoes & Peppers, Herbs, Perennials, Annuals, Roses & Shrubs. Cash or Checks only.

Navasota: "50th Celebration of the founding of the Navasota Garden Club" First Baptist Church, 300 Church Street, Navasota. Business Meeting 9:30-10:30 a.m. Celebration 11:00 to 12:30 "Come and Go." May 2. Visitors and former members welcome.