Country Roads

 

September 9, 2021



My container garden is overflowing! When deciding to downsize my vegetable garden this year, I imagined my produce would certainly be limited but not so. My farmer husband came up with the idea of using livestock “licking tubs” this year as garden containers, so four tubs were found. He drilled holes in the bottom of the tubs. They were filled with a combination of field soil and garden soil.

Deciding what to plant in my limited container garden was hard. It was decided to only plant our favorites and what we would use the most. I was certain no canning needed to be done. One tub was planted with lettuce. The second was planted with a variety of spring lettuce. The third tub was planted with one tomato plant in one half of the tub. The other half was planted with spinach seeds. The fourth tub held two tomato plants.

The spring started out with rains but later the rains stopped and so watering was done on a regular basis. Much to my surprise the lettuce and spinach produced and kept us in delicious salads for a couple of months. I began to question the tomato crop as it seemed they would never bloom. I believe I only had to pull two weeds from the containers. That was a big plus! Finally the spinach and lettuce had finished. What was left was pulled and given to the calves in the lots. They thought it was a tasty treat!

Just as the tomato plants began to bloom, the summer heat began to crank up and it seemed my tomato plants kept growing but not one green tomato appeared. Finally the rains arrived and along with it came a little cooler temperatures. As if by magic, the tomatoes seemed to be showing up all over the plants. Now a couple of weeks later, I’m over run with red, ripe tomatoes. I’m not complaining as I love a fresh ripe tomato. There is nothing like eating a delicious BLT sandwich, or adding home grown tomatoes to a favorite salad recipe or into a taco. There is satisfaction in eating a home grown sliced tomato. I’ll just keep on enjoying my home grown tomatoes. If they get ahead of me, I’ll just share with friends.

Tomatoes are one of the reminders of my Grandma Heskett who could make the best breaded tomatoes and the most delicious tomato jam. She never let a tomato or any other garden product go to waste. I wonder if she would have approved of my tub container garden?

As I continue to pick my supply of tomatoes off the vines, I’ve worked up the soil in the other containers that were empty. A couple of weeks ago I planted a tub full of lettuce seeds and the other tub is full of spinach seeds, all ready to grow. Hopefully we’ll enjoy the fall crops. The livestock “lick tubs” have worked well. Happy gardening!

 

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