Container Gardening

My last two classes at the garden fair were on container gardening. The first one involved soil in the containers.  What I learned from that was I need to use a lot more fertilizer than I have been using in the past.  The design tip was thrill, fill, and spill.  Have one taller plant in the center or against a wall to thrill, other plants to fill in the space, and a vining plant to spill over the sides.  The second class was on hydroponic gardening.  I think hydroponic gardening fits my body well.  I didn't get this body that I inhabit by eating right and staying healthy.  I had two kids and I ate plenty of pizza and chocolate.  My joints are stiff. Getting down to weed the soil isn't so hard but getting up again is the problem. With hydroponic gardening, I have no weeding.  I can use a table so I don't have to bend over or kneel on the ground.  I won't need my hoe.  There are a lot of advantages to hydroponic gardening.  As you can see as part of the class we got a starter kit. We drilled 2 inch holes in the top of a tote.  We got 10 little baskets to go in each hole and the perlite and peat go plant with plus fertilizer.  In here I can start romaine, kale, spinach, herbs and other plants.  Beets and kohlrabi can be grown in these little baskets because the bulb forms above the basket.  The basket is too small for a tomato plant. For tomatoes I need a bigger basket and a 5 gallon food grade pail.  In the summer I can garden outside.  In the winter I would need florescent lighting.  We talked quite a while about micro-greens.  I hadn't heard of it before but the tiny little leaves on the outside of some plants such as kale or romaine can be harvested with a scissors and they provide a larger amount of nutrients and flavor than full grown leaves.  I wonder if there is a difference in taste between soil gardening and hydroponic gardening.  I think I will give it a try and find out.  Another option mentioned, if you have a garden pond, is to use a foot square sheet of 2 inch thick Styrofoam, cut 2 inch holes in that, and float your garden outside.