Trailer Gardening

[Penney H. & Mike E.]

Just curious, to those who love to garden and love fresh produce, but want to travel a lot in their trailer, which means being away from a garden that needs TLC, mostly in the form of watering and weeding, what IS the solution? Yes yes I know, helpful neighbors, paid teen-agers, etc. We don't live in a neighborhood with those resources, well in fact we don't live in a neighborhood at all but in the woods!

One solution I did years ago when I knew we were going to take a 2 week trip to Montana late June, into July, was to plant an old enamel tub, about 16 inches across, full of little bib lettuce. It was up and starting to look great when we left, I kept it in the trailer (Burro then) while traveling, set it out while camping. It grew, we had fresh lettuce, and smiles from fellow campers at our portable garden. Wish I had a picture but it was pre-digital and if there is a pic it is 'somewhere'.

We were in Montana to receive an award for my father at the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation annual meeting and it made me think about all the various 'rations' (I've seen the list!) L & C started out with and the trials and tribulations of eating throughout the journey. They would have loved our fiberglass trailers with coolers and/or frigs!

[Anne Badgley]

This is a question that I have been contemplating also. My garden at home is in a low spot of the back yard and is heavily mulched with grass clippings. That takes care of weeds and water, I don't do either when I am home. Being in rainy Indiana means I don't supplement with water unless no rain for more than three weeks.

I want to have a portable garden to take up the grey water from my sink/portable shower. I expect to use rubbermaid type container(s) in dish pan or larger size. I am thinking a light, soiless mix of vermiculite and perlite to make it easy to carry. If the nutrients in my gray water aren't enough for good growth, I can add some Miracle-gro. The thing I am pondering is what to plant with these characteristics:
fast growing
uses lots of water (~3 gal/day)
nutritious food value
not too tall (maybe a trailing plant...)

Greens of some kind are always a good idea. What about sweet potato? Eggplant? Green beans?

[Penney H. & Mike E.]

Greens of some kind are always a good idea. What about sweet potato? Eggplant? Green beans?

You are thinking big with those veggies! Rememeber, container plants need to be those with shallow roots, the ones I find work well, and grow quickly, ideal for a traveling garden, are lettuce, radishes, beets. Small mini carrots do well in containers and have a shorter growing time. Rememebr to put holes in your containers for drainage, we made sure it was well drained before putting back in side for traveling, and we set it on plastic. Your idea of a planting medium other than soil to keep weight down is a good one, I used planting soil, which does tend to be lighter than garden soil.

I'd love to hear from anyone who might be full-timing and has experimented with growing anything, flowers, veggies.

Anne, share some photos if you do your mobile garden!