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A Garden Story
Don't have the yard space for a proper garden? Me either. No sad faces here, though! You can have a small garden without planting anything in the ground. Here's what mine looks like:
The red pots are tomatoes, and the blue pots are bell peppers. I started them out in a teensy weensy greenhouse. You can purchase one of these at Wal-Mart for under $10. It includes 72 peat pots - wayyy more plants than I ever intended on growing! However, when you're starting plants from seeds, you often have to "weed out" the skraggly looking ones. Yes, I said skraggly. What? It's a word.
I started out with catnip, chives, bell peppers, tomatoes, sunflowers and radish growing in my mini-greenhouse. There were about 2 rows of each. All I had to do was sow my seeds and keep them watered. Everything except for the chives grew. Chives need minimal light, but all my other guys needed a good bit o' sunshine...so the chives lost out.
Once they got big enough, I transplanted a few of the nicer lookin' ones of each variety into larger peat pots. And then once they got too big for peat pots, I narrowed them down once again. I was left with three sunflowers, some radish, the guys above and a couple catnip plants.
We live in a townhouse with a small back yard. Our doggie has the run of that space, so we didn't want to plant anything edible out there. Plus, it would just overrun our yard! The sunflowers are the only fellas that got planted in the yard...and boy are they tall! I am very excited - they are starting to bloom...
I started out with catnip, chives, bell peppers, tomatoes, sunflowers and radish growing in my mini-greenhouse. There were about 2 rows of each. All I had to do was sow my seeds and keep them watered. Everything except for the chives grew. Chives need minimal light, but all my other guys needed a good bit o' sunshine...so the chives lost out.
Once they got big enough, I transplanted a few of the nicer lookin' ones of each variety into larger peat pots. And then once they got too big for peat pots, I narrowed them down once again. I was left with three sunflowers, some radish, the guys above and a couple catnip plants.
We live in a townhouse with a small back yard. Our doggie has the run of that space, so we didn't want to plant anything edible out there. Plus, it would just overrun our yard! The sunflowers are the only fellas that got planted in the yard...and boy are they tall! I am very excited - they are starting to bloom...
Kinda neat, huh? They're about 5 feet tall now and growing strong! And here's a pic of my shady plants....yeah, they're gangster and stuff.
The two leafy plants are catnip. Every morning and every evening, I pick some for Marco. Polo won't touch the stuff, but Marco's addicted. He waits at the door for it. Seriously.
The other plant is a flowering variety my hubby picked up. It seems to like the shade, so I put it under our little patio table. It was dying...but look at it now! Nice and green!
My advice for container gardening is simple: stay committed. Don't forget about your little buddies, they need lots of attention! Ok, not lots and lots of attention, but when they need a bigger pot, don't neglect them. They won't grow properly and then they'll get rootlocked and die. Water them every day. Container plants need more water than plants in the ground (*chuckle* sounded like pants on the ground). I only use potting soil made for, you know, pots. It retains moisture better. And if your plants are young and the weather's funny (too cold/hot, storming and such), bring 'em in. My young plants slept inside for the first couple months because I planted them right at the end of winter. Just put a garbage bag under them and keep any pets/children out of their hair (or leaves, in this case).
Like all the finer things in life, you get out what you put in. A little TLC will go a long way. If you have any questions, advice or comments, please let me know! This is my first season of container gardening, and I am always looking for tips!
As always, live.laugh.love.
The other plant is a flowering variety my hubby picked up. It seems to like the shade, so I put it under our little patio table. It was dying...but look at it now! Nice and green!
My advice for container gardening is simple: stay committed. Don't forget about your little buddies, they need lots of attention! Ok, not lots and lots of attention, but when they need a bigger pot, don't neglect them. They won't grow properly and then they'll get rootlocked and die. Water them every day. Container plants need more water than plants in the ground (*chuckle* sounded like pants on the ground). I only use potting soil made for, you know, pots. It retains moisture better. And if your plants are young and the weather's funny (too cold/hot, storming and such), bring 'em in. My young plants slept inside for the first couple months because I planted them right at the end of winter. Just put a garbage bag under them and keep any pets/children out of their hair (or leaves, in this case).
Like all the finer things in life, you get out what you put in. A little TLC will go a long way. If you have any questions, advice or comments, please let me know! This is my first season of container gardening, and I am always looking for tips!
As always, live.laugh.love.