How his garden grows - Eclectic farmer needs little space

LAMAR, Mo. -- Ernest Winslow contends he can grow all the string beans a family cares to eat.

No great shakes, you might say.

But can you grow them in a 14-inch-by-12-inch plastic foam container?

Winslow says he can, and has.

At age 67, Winslow loves to play with raising different flowers, fruits and vegetables in unique ways in addition to "normal" gardens.

Used tractor tires, old cattle feed bunks, water tanks with rusting bottoms, large cans and flower pots are some of his plant containers.

He says many of the methods he uses can be used by space-crunched city dwellers, some of whom may have no more room than a front porch.

Though few in the city may have access to used tractor tires, Winslow says they make great planters. He uses a circular saw to cut a hole into the side wall near the tread and then cuts off all the sidewall, expanding the planting area.

He fills containers with a material from a pile not far away. The pile contains material from old hay and some cow and horse manure. The outcome is a moist soil ready for plants.

Such gardening means less ground to work and it conserves water. Picking crops is easier as is pulling weeds, if that can ever be an easy task.

Peppers are growing in an aging water tank. "They almost give these tanks and feed bunks away at sales," he says.

A lot of strawberry plants are growing on one-gallon cans. He does a lot of transplanting. A cattle feeder holds strawberry plants for fruit production.

But corn is his favorite. "Corn is my hobby," he says.

Winslow is not restrained by conventional planting dates. He returned home in the middle of June from Minnesota with 35 pounds of hybrid corn seed. He planted some in containers in the greenhouse and set out the plants on June 30. Winslow speculates he may try planting such 75-day corn after wheat for grain or silage. The corn has large kernels and small cobs.

He passes along a secret to know when corn is ready for shelling. "You wrap an ear in foil. You close an end and leave the other open. You shake it and most of the kernels fall out, it is ready to shell."