Even though we can usually buy all of the fresh vegetables and herbs we need to prepare our favorite dishes, some cooks are compelled to plant kitchen gardens as well.
Master gardener Bill Colvard said: It is like having a well-stocked pantry. If you are cooking and there is something you need, you can find it right outside the door.
For Pat Skaggs a kitchen garden is a way to combine her two favorite pastimes – cooking and gardening.
She said: I just HAVE to garden all year.
She especially likes being able to clip sprigs of rosemary, thyme, parsley and winter savory – all evergreens in our area -- in the cold months.
Tomatoes such as Park Whopper and Juliet, Blue Lake pole green beans, cucumbers and zucchini are in the garden every summer.
Skaggs, who will become president of the Memphis Herb Society in July, said: Garlic is another thing I always have. If you have never tasted garlic from the garden, you are missing something.
She describes it as sweeter and less pungent than the garlic in the supermarket.
For Catherine Lewis a first time kitchen garden is a planter box about 1-by-6 feet, just big enough for a bit of mesclun leaf lettuces and a couple of basil plants.
She has not quite gotten enough for a salad yet, said the president of the Memphis Area Master Gardeners.
Lewis, who is pictured above, also has other herbs, such as rosemary, growing in beds in her back yard.

You Bet Your Garden!

Mike McGrath, host of the public radio show of the same name, recently provided tips for chemical-free rose gardening and a list of disease-resistant roses to choose from.

His primary source for information was Dr. Tommy Cairns, past president of the American Rose Society and author of Ortho All About Roses.

Some general tips:
* To prevent diseases always plant roses in open areas with lots of airflow and sun.
* Prune off dead, damaged and diseased canes in the spring as new growth appears.
* Clean up and discard the old mulch under your roses and add an inch of compost.
* Roses with waxy leaves rather than papery leaves tend to be more disease-resistant.

Not surprisingly, the list of carefree roses begins with the popular Knock-Out roses but most of the others, including a couple of hybrid teas, may be less familiar to casual rose growers:

Hybrid teas: Kardinal, a red rose that lasts long as a cut flower; Cabana, an orange-yellow rose from Jackson & Perkins; pale yellow Elina and Ronald Reagan, a deep red rose.

Floribundas: Julia Child, a yellow with a spicy scent; apricot Amber Queen; Passionate Kisses, neon pink; and Bolero, Moon Dance and Fabulous, all white roses. Moon Dance is a 2007 ARS winner.

Grandiflora: Wild Blue Yonder, a deep purple with citrus fragrance.

Shrub roses: Roses in the Easy Elegance series especially Fiesta with its explosion of pink and white blooms; Macy’s Pride, creamy white with hint of pink; Snow Drift, white flowers with 50 petals on each;

Climbers: Showtime, a clear red with bright gold stamens and Eden Rose (also called Pierre de Ronsard), a medium pink climber with old-garden type cabbage roses. I found this photo of the Pierre de Ronard by Googling and think it is now my new favorite rose.

For several years the trend in container gardening has been creating compact landscapes by filling pots with several different plants.

The usual formula involves a vertical plant, sometimes called a thriller, to give the tableau height; a couple of mounded plants, often called fillers, for interest in the center of the pot; and then a trailing plant or two, called spillers, to soften edges and provide a focal point toward the bottom of the container.

But lately I have noticed more containers showcasing a single, but stunning plant, on its own. Rita Randolph, owner of Randolph’s Greenhouses in Jackson, Tenn., allows Fiber Optic grass to get all the glory in a container shaped like a chicken. In another, she has a low-maintenance collection of the same hens-and-chicks or sempervivums.

P. Allen Smith, the gardening guru from Little Rock, suggests putting single thrillers, fillers and spillers in pots of varying sizes and heights and then grouping the pots together. As they grow, the plants will form the lush miniature landscapes we all love. But when a plant wanes, it is easy to swap it out with another potted beauty.

Randolph likes lush combinations and has the eye of an artist when it comes to choosing plant partners. At her retail nursery, she makes it easy to shop by grouping together plants that will work well with each other in containers. And she also sells containers already filled and will custom-design landscapes in containers her customers bring in.

She said: My first thought is always texture. I believe foliage is first and flowers are second.

Foliage plants to consider are coleus in many colors and leaf shapes; caladiums such as the purple Excalibur and the huge Red Flash; Troy’s Gold plectranthus and Caramel, a heuchera (coral bells) with caramel-colored leaves and white flowers. It’s one of the few heucheras that will actually grow here, too.

For height, do not overlook the mother-in-law tongue you may already own. It may not be that pretty on its own, but when it is with friends (other plants), Randolph said it shines.

She also thinks lemongrass is underused as a vertical for containers as are other edibles such as burgundy-leafed beets and Bright Lights Swiss chard.

Container gardens look best when plants are crowded together. They will grow and fill in but this is not a garden you want to wait for.

She said: I like to completely cover the soil with plants.

She uses a fast-draining potting mix of composted cotton burrs, composted bark, peat moss, perlite, sand and composted manure. She mixes in lime and an organic plant food such as Espoma Plant-tone. She also boosts their diets with regular feedings of liquid fertilizers.