My Garden Post Gets in the Holiday Spirit

I’m constantly thinking of ways to use My Garden Post throughout the year. A poinsettia display has been on my mind for several months so I thought I’d give it a try. I found a good buy on the plants and it took only 5 quarts of potting soil and 15 minutes to create this stunning arrangement. It will greet customers entering my wife’s tile store for several weeks.

Of the millions of poinsettias purchased each Christmas season, very few are grown on and enjoyed the following year. What a shame! If you’d like to save yours from the compost pile, here are a few simple tips I’ve used to keep them going.

First, it’s important to keep them watered (moist to slightly dry before the next watering), fertilized (monthly), and positioned close to a sunny window for the remainder of the winter. The flowering bracts will fail and can be trimmed off. The plants will be all green for the remainder of the winter. After the threat of frost has passed, they can be moved outside.

Before I move my poinsettias outside for the summer, I repot them into plastic pots at least 2-4” larger than those they were growing in. New soil is important and I add a few tablespoons of slow release fertilizer that will feed them for up to 3 months. I supplement the slow release granules with a water soluble fertilizer every couple weeks.

I’ll admit the poinsettias can look pretty sad when the time comes to repot them and set them outside in late May. Don’t let that concern you. I cut mine back to 6”-10” and remove all the yellowing leaves. You may have only stems left and that’s OK.

Find a good location with southern exposure and plumb them up to drip irrigation. They’ll require very little attention. Within ten days you’ll notice new leaves sprouting on all the stems. The points will flush out quickly and grow 2-3 times the size when you bought them. Give them a hard pinch every six weeks to encourage stalky full plants.

Before the first frost hits in the fall, bring your plants inside and give them all the sun you can. Now, there’s a trick to get them to reflower for Christmas. They need total 14-15 hours of uninterrupted darkness from September 21^st to the end of October. That can be done easily by setting a box over each plant. Choose a schedule that’s convenient for you. Example: on at 5 PM and off at 7 AM.

Try it. It’s very rewarding and saves you a ton of $$. Enjoy your holidays and send me your comments and questions. Oliver

Vegetable Gardening with My Garden Post

The questions I get most often from owners of My Garden Posts pertain to choosing the best vegetables to grow. I always counter with, what vegetables do you like to eat?” Before you shop for seeds and transplants, you should have a list in mind of the vegetables you most often like to toss into salad. Then it’s a matter of choosing varieties that are compact and produce high yields. I thought it might be of interest to many, if I share a collection of my favorites.

I always have 3 to 5 MGPs growing at any one time. For the purpose of today’s post, I’ll detail my favorite vegetables and their named varieties. The lower two planters are larger (14” wide) and have lots of soil and more vertical room for the veggies to grow. I use them for the plants that need the extra room. In the bottom planter, I sew 6 to 9 cucumber seeds. If all seeds germinate and mature, some will trail over the edge of the planter and onto the base. Most seed companies offer a few compact varieties. I’ve grown Burpee’s Spacemaster and Bush Champion. The Bush Champions produce great numbers of good sized cukes earlier than other varieties and they seem to like the planters. The harvest continues right into the fall.

This is not the best picture I took this summer, but it's the best one I can find at the moment.  I remember taking one shot that featured 6 cukes ready for the picking.

Two Bush Steak tomatoes in the second large planter produce all the full sized salad tomatoes you’ll want for the summer. This compact variety grows to 24” and requires good support when it gets loaded with fruit.

This is a fine example of 2 Busch Steak Tomatoes in a large planter.  I allowed them the fruit to ripen especially for a photo shoot.

Planting my way up the post, I was very happy to get full growth and produce from peppers in the smaller 8" planter.  There is adequate vertical space for the California Wonder or a number of other varieties.  The planter does get root bound by the end of the season, but that doesn't pose a problem.

Burpee (I think) offers a package of mixed California wonder peppers.  I found that this one offered an interesting contrast.  All seemed to taste alike.

I enjoy mixed greens in my salads and have found that one small planter will produce enough greens for two salads a week with 2 harvests. You can double that with 2 small planters and a mixture of spinach, lettuce and mixed greens.

The 8” planter at the top of My Garden Post is an ideal location for 2 Tiny Tim Tomatoes. The plants can be difficult to find but the seeds can be easily ordered online. The Tiny Tim is a heavy yielder with clusters of fine flavored red fruit about ½” in diameter. It grows 10” tall and a little wider than the height. It’s very easy to grow and ideally suited for the top planter. You’ll be harvesting fruit in 45 days. They’re fun to grow and fun to eat.

"Tiny Tim" - it's hard to imagine that such a small plant can produce such a high yield

And there you have it, a salad garden that uses only 4 square feet of your balcony, deck or patio and it’s accessible to gardeners of all ages and mobility.

I look forward to your comments and questions, Oliver

Innovative Vertical Garden: Solving a Problem

Marc and I came up with the idea for MGP when we noticed many urban gardeners were crowded off their balconies and decks by an ever enlarging collection of plants in assorted containers. We knew up front that any new product has to solve one or more problems and customers need to find value in the solution. By going vertical, My Garden Post condenses 24 SF of containers on to just 4 SF, so we knew we could solve that problem for folks.

We continued with our due diligence and found our innovative concept solved several more problems that frustrated a few more categories of gardeners. Over the 35 years I owned and operated a retail garden center, I saw many transitions in the business. The current senior population was America’s most avid gardeners and they now are finding it difficult to garden on their knees. Most don’t want to and many simply can’t. My Garden Post is very popular with seniors, with its 5 planters within easy reach. There are no bending, stretching or dirty knees.

I gave thought to my own situation. I've been using a wheelchair for the past 25 years and have been gardening since childhood. I was gradually losing interest until the opportunity came along to test and develop the My Garden Post concept. I used a variety of prototypes during the two years of testing. Mark and I were determined to make every feature of the product easy for me to use. In doing so, we knew that we weren't just solving problems for me. There are millions of avid gardeners in wheelchairs and millions more with limited strength and mobility.  MGP has made gardening fun and easy for me again and I’m especially rewarded when customers share their same experiences.

I thought it would be fun and inspiring to share this picture of Anne, 96 years old.  She received a My Garden Post for her birthday and grew a successful garden this past summer through late fall.

I don’t want to leave you with the impression that you have to be a senior or disabled to appreciate My Garden Post. Currently, the majority of MGP owners are neither senior nor disabled. They love having the extra space on the balcony, porch or patio and the convenience of fresh vegetables, herbs, fruit and flowers just steps from the kitchen. Everyone appreciates the automated drip irrigation system. It remembers to water so they don’t have to.

That's it for this week - I look forward to your comments and questions.  O