Craig-I really think you would benefit from a drip system-you can get them at home depot and do it yourself if you are handy like that. What it does is make sure that your watering is consistent from day to day-and if you want to go out of town, or whatever, you dont have to worry about anything.
The other thing that I do is make sure I have some worms in my containers-I put one or two in at the beginning of the season and by the end, there are about 50-so they are keeping things light and feeding the plants with their castings.
I use a mulch that is recycled paper that is colored and it works real good. Cant remember the name right now cause my wife and I are out of town. I use about 2 " as a mulch.
Spud-Had not thought of the pecan shells, but of course, I could get my hands on them also since I am also in pecan-growing country. Do you use any other fert or foliar in the containers? I used to plant 6 plants in a 1/2 gallon whiskey barrel, but have cut back when I moved to 15 gallon-do you do that for shade, and do you find that the harvest is affected?
JWR-I believe the bees really help but you have to be careful if you are saving seed to keep the variety pure. Do you use anything else for fert other than the alfalfa?
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Michael
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