As a master gardener for Hennepin County, I volunteer for a lot of garden-related projects like helping little kids plant trees at their schools and landscaping homes built by Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity. I love these kinds of hands-on jobs.

Occasionally, though, I work the information booth at a local garden center and, honestly, I shouldn’t do that because I don’t like it. I don’t like it because I always come home feeling like I just spent the day perpetuating the idea that there’s a “right” way to do things that are supposed to be fun like buying pots and filling them with plants that you like.

Every time I volunteer at a garden center the question I’m asked most often is, “What should I put in a pot that’s this big?” (Picture hands held out to make a circular shape of one size or another.) And I want to say, “How should I know? It’s your pot, not mine.” But that just sounds snotty and that’s not how I mean it. What I mean is more along the lines of, “Just because I’m wearing this goofy apron and badge doesn’t mean I know better than you what should go in your pots.” After all, you’re the one who’ll be looking at what’s in the pot all season.

Yes, of course, there are some tips that come in handy when designing containers and I’ll get to those in a minute. But I think what makes an attractive container is mostly a matter of personal taste, like art, music, and clothes. They may be all the rage, but I don’t buy those low-slung pants because I’m pretty sure the world doesn’t want to see the upper third of my butt every time I sit down. And I don’t fill my pots with geraniums, spikes, and vinca vines even though that combination is so ubiquitous you’d think some bossy container czar decreed we must all replicate that look. (No offense intended to geranium, spike, and vinca fans. They’re just not my thing.)

And that, thankfully, brings me back to my point. If you’d like to create a container garden, you’re plenty qualified for the job. All you need to know are a few simple tips. As always, when choosing plants you’ll need to consider your location. How much sun will your containers get if you group them by your front door, on the back deck, or along the driveway? Remember, when a plant tag says “full sun” that plant needs about five or six hours of uninterrupted sun to thrive. (Two hours in the morning and three in the afternoon is not the same thing.)

Next, don’t think too hard about the tired old rule that pots should have something tall, a trailing plant, and some mid-height filler plants. Variation in height makes any container or garden more interesting. But letting that dictate what you choose can send you straight into the Bermuda Triangle of geraniums, spikes, and vincas. (Don’t hate me. I’ll make fun of something else next time.) What you’re really striving for is balance. You want to balance the look of the plants in the pot so all the tall things don’t wind up on one side and the short things on the other. You’re also looking to balance the size of the pot with what’s inside it. A teensy pot is going to look silly with a big, honking canna lily sticking out of it.

And while you’re picking out plants, think about bloom times. Using plant tags as your guide, try to group plants in pots that will flower at different times. That way, you’ll always have something colorful admist the green.

If you’re planning on having several pots in the same area, you might want to try going with one color scheme—lime greens and whites, blues and yellows. think about going with one color scheme—lime greens and whites, blues and yellows. Give the grouping a showy focal point by including one larger pot that features something unusual like a Tiger Eyes sumac or small citrus tree.

Try out your ideas while you’re at the garden center by choosing several plants you like and then cramming them all together in the cart, on the ground, or in a pot you brought from home. Rearrange. Then re-rearrange. Do the colors contrast well with each other? Do you have that balance you’re after? Does everything require the same amount of sunlight? Are you thinking, “Hey, this looks great; who cares what that master gardener over there thinks?” Excellent. The next time we meet at a garden center we can just chat about plants we love.

Meleah Maynard is a Master Gardener and freelance writer, living in Linden Hills. If you’ve got a gardening question you’d like her to address in her column, you can email it to meleah@everydaygardener.com.

As a master gardener for Hennepin County, I volunteer for a lot of garden-related projects like helping little kids plant trees at their schools and landscaping homes built by Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity. I love these kinds of hands-on jobs.
Occasionally, though, I work the information booth at a local garden center and, honestly, I shouldn’t do that because I don’t like it. I don’t like it because I always come home feeling like I just spent the day perpetuating the idea that there’s a “right” way to do things that are supposed to be fun like buying pots and filling them with plants that you like.
Every time I volunteer at a garden center the question I’m asked most often is, “What should I put in a pot that’s this big?” (Picture hands held out to make a circular shape of one size or another.) And I want to say, “How should I know? It’s your pot, not mine.” But that just sounds snotty and that’s not how I mean it. What I mean is more along the lines of, “Just because I’m wearing this goofy apron and badge doesn’t mean I know better than you what should go in your pots.”
Yes, of course, there are some tips that come in handy when designing containers and I’ll get to those in a minute. But I think what makes an attractive container is mostly a matter of personal taste, like art, music, and clothes. They may be all the rage, but I don’t buy those low-slung pants because I’m pretty sure the world doesn’t want to see the upper third of my butt every time I sit down. And I don’t fill my pots with geraniums, spikes, and vinca vines even though that combination is so ubiquitous you’d think some bossy container czar decreed we must all replicate that look. (No offense intended to geranium, spike, and vinca fans. They’re just not my thing.)
And that, thankfully, brings me back to my point. If you’d like to create a container garden, you’re plenty qualified for the job. All you need to know are a few simple tips. As always, when choosing plants you’ll need to consider your location. How much sun will your containers get if you group them by your front door, on the back deck, or along the driveway? Remember, when a plant tag says “full sun” that plant needs about five or six hours of sun to thrive. Otherwise it’ll get all floppy and won’t have many flowers.
Next, don’t think too hard about the tired old rule that pots should have something tall, a trailing plant, and some mid-height filler plants. Variation in height is important in any container or garden. But letting that dictate what you choose can send you straight into the Bermuda Triangle of geraniums, spikes, and vincas. (Don’t hate me. I’ll make fun of something else next time.) What you’re really striving for is balance. You want to balance the look of the plants in the pot so all the tall things don’t wind up on one side and the short things on the other. You’re also looking to balance the size of the pot with what’s inside it. A teensy pot is going to look silly with a big, honking canna lily sticking out of it.
If you’re planning on having several pots in the same area, think about going with one color scheme—lime greens and whites, blues and yellows. Give the grouping a showy focal point by including one larger pot that features something unusual like a Tiger eye sumac or small citrus tree.
Try out your ideas while you’re at the garden center by choosing several plants you like and then cramming them all together in the cart, on the ground, or in a pot you brought from home. Rearrange. Rearrange. Do the colors contrast well with each other? Do you have that balance you’re after? Does everything require the same amount of sunlight? Are you thinking, “Hey, this looks great; who cares what that master gardener over there thinks?” Excellent. The next time we meet at a garden center we can just chat.

OK, I admit it. I gave you a bum steer about slugs in my last column. I wrote that using beer as bait to kill the slimey, leaf-destroying creatures doesn’t work. Have you heard this theory? You’re supposed to put a shallow cup or saucer full of beer next to plants being ravaged by slugs so when they slide over for a taste (slugs supposedly love beer) they fall in and drown. End of slug problem. Well, it hasn’t worked for me. But several readers e-mailed to let me know the trap has worked just fine for them.

So I did some research on the subject and discovered two important things thanks to Jeff Gillman’s great book, “The Truth About Garden Remedies: What Works, What Doesn’t & Why.”

First, not all species of slugs are attracted to beer. Second, as Gillman so aptly puts it, “a poorly designed beer trap will attract a slug without actually trapping it.” Ah-ha! Turns out, I was setting my little dishes of beer on the ground, which meant the slugs probably couldn’t climb up the side to have a drink (and die, of course). If you want this to work, you have to make sure the lip of your cup or dish is even with the surface of the soil. Gillman also suggests that the beer be about an inch below the top of the cup so slugs have to lean out a bit to get it, ensuring that they’ll lose their balance and tumble in. (I know this sounds horrible. I go back and forth all the time on letting the poor things live and wanting to commit mass slug murder.)

In addition to their slug-trapping stories, readers have sent several gardening questions lately, so I’ll answer some of those here. One gardener asked about landscape fabric. Should she put some down before planting her new perennial garden? Heavens no. Though you see this stuff used by professional landscape companies all the time, landscape fabric (also known as weed barrier cloth) should never be used in an area where you want to plant living things.

Not only is it completely hideous (and some of it always winds up showing), it doesn’t allow water to penetrate the soil in the same way it would normally. It also prevents adequate oxygen from getting to plant roots where it’s needed. And just wait till the day you want to move a shrub or plant something new and you have to maneuver around that thick layer of yuck.

If you want healthy plants, skip the landscape fabric and use mulch instead. Shredded hardwood is always a good choice, and there are several sites in Minneapolis where you can get it for free. Check out this website for a location near you: www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/news/20030813mulchsites.asp. Shredded leaves and cocoa bean mulch also work well, particularly around annuals and perennials. It sounds like overkill, but mulch should really be 3- to 5-inches thick if it’s going to help prevent weeds and retain soil moisture.

Several readers asked about how to care for their lawns during this seemingly unending drought we’re having. While we don’t have watering restrictions in Minneapolis, so you can technically water to your heart’s content, visions of staggeringly high water bills and an awareness of the impact of one’s own water usage on the planet tends to moderate how often we reach for the hose.

If you want your grass to be green and actually growing rather than holding its own, you’ll need to make sure it gets an inch to an inch and a half of water every week. As I’ve said in the past, you can easily figure out how much an inch is by putting out a rain gauge or an empty soup can or something before you turn the sprinkler on. You can get by with less water (a half inch a week or so) if you’re just looking to keep your grass alive. Grass is tough but it can get too brown and crispy to recover. Remember, you don’t have to do any extra watering if it rains enough to keep things happy.

Another reader asked why some of her tomatoes have big, nasty black spots on the bottom. This common malady is called blossom-end rot. It usually happens when tomatoes don’t get enough calcium. While there may be plenty of calcium in the soil, the tomatoes aren’t able to take it up the way they need to. Keeping your soil evenly and consistently moist will lessen the chance that this problem will happen again.

Thanks for your questions and happy gardening.

A neighbor asked me the other day whether it was already too late to plant. What? Too late in the sense that global warming is happening even faster than scientists have recently surmised so why bother because everything’s just going to freeze or burn up or succumb to whatever other horrible things are going to happen? No. She’s read someplace that gardeners ought to have their plants in the ground by mid- to late June.

Hmm. Everyday gardeners, a lot of you may already know this but, for those who don’t, let me just say that there’s a lot of gardening information out there. A lot of it is wise and good and helpful, like this column, for example. But you’ll also find a lot of stuff that trots out all sorts of rules, rules, rules that, were the writers actual gardeners, they would know nobody really follows. This whole thing about it being too late to plant in what, for us, is the middle of a very short summer is a good example of the latter.

Like every other gardener I know, I plant right up until my frozen fingers can hardly manage to get another fall bulb into the ground. It’s fine to do that. Just be sure to keep up with your watering, particularly during the blast-furnace days of July and August when your new plants will be suffering the most because their root systems aren’t established yet.

As for watering, flowers, trees, and shrubs need about an inch of water each week. So if it doesn’t rain, you need to get out there and get the job done yourself. To figure out how much water your garden is getting, you can stick one of those plastic rain gauges in the ground or just set out an old tuna can or something. Put it someplace you’ll be walking by so you’ll remember to check it.

And the old saying about watering deeply rather than frequently is true. If you’re just spritzing your plants with the hose after supper they’re going to develop shallow root systems that won’t serve them well in the future. (I know it’s easy and rather relaxing. I’ve done it, too.) There are lots of dos and don’ts about watering. In a perfect world, we would all water in the morning so foliage has time to dry out before dark when the temperature drops and fungal diseases have their way with wet plants. When we water, we would all walk around with a sprayer or wand attachment on the hose, taking care to water the ground beneath each plant (not the leaves) for a full minute or two so the water goes deep into the ground. (You could also try those hideous soaker hoses.)

But, alas, this isn’t a perfect world and, if you’re like me, you sometimes water by hand but there are plenty of other times when you throw the sprinkler on the garden and set the kitchen timer for an hour while you clean up cat barf and make dinner. This is not a good thing, especially in the evening, because it really does increase the chances that some of your plants will be stricken with diseases of one sort or another. But, in my opinion, I’d rather have to throw out a sick plant now and again than go without a garden because I’m not able to tend it in the best possible way. Remember the motto of the everyday gardener is “gardening for mere mortals.” We like plants. We’re doing the best we can. So don’t get your undies in a bunch when you see our sprinklers on.

OK, so here we are in summer’s dog days and we’re planting and watering and what else are we doing, oh, weeding. That’s a good one. As laborious as it is, try your best to keep your gardens weeded. At the very least, try to get ‘em before they go to seed. Oh, and try not to freak out over a few chomped leaves. Most insects that munch on plants are going to do that for a short time and then go on their merry way. Even the “safest” insecticide sprays and powders can be toxic to butterflies and bees and other beneficial bugs. And just for the record, that whole thing about putting beer out to catch the slugs that turn hostas into Swiss cheese overnight is a ruse pulled off by slugs that like a chaser with their greenery.