Container Garden slowly taking shape.

I don't have any pictures to share yet. But I do have several different kinds of containers and seeds. I'm going to use the egg cartons from Easter to start the seedlings in. I wanted cardboard ones but couldn't find any in the store.....Weird HUH.

Tomorrow afternoon when the yard has dried out a little and it warms up the kids and I are going to dig up the flower bed that the landlord let us have. I have some edging that a neighbor gave me to use along the edge. I was hoping to raise it up but can't find anything cheap to do it with. I guess I have to use some type of cheap fence to keep the dog out of there.

There is enough room between several of the bushes that line the on side of the yard to place a couple of the pots. and the others I'm placing in front of the garage they should get plenty of sun in those locations.

I'm also going to try an experiment. Have you seen those hanging bags for tomatoes... the one that grows the plant upside down. Well I was debating on buying one to try it out but they are rather pricey for what they are. While I was considering the purchase I saw a similar product but instead it has a hanging basket with a hole in the bottom. It shows the large tomatoes growing out the bottom hole and cherry tomatos growing on the top of the basket. It was also rather pricey but I figure I already have a hanging basket so why don't I just pop the bottom off it and drill a hole in it just large enough for a tomato plant. So that's what I'm going to do.

Still here

We had a bad case of tummy yuck going around. I will be posting more info on my garden tomorrow but wanted to stop in for a quick hi.

Spring Is In The Air

And the plants are growing well. This is the little pot my son has. This shot is from yesterday.

And this one is from today...... How is that for some fast growing.

My peppers are growing a little slower then my sons plants but they are coming along nicely.

Last bit of news My Landlord gave me the ok to dig up this little flower bed in the back yard and put in something else. I'm going to build it up and make it a raised bed to keep the dog out and I will have to figure out which veggies will grow best in the shade of the house. I also want to do a soil test to make sure there is nothing harmful in the soil.

With this space added to the containers I should have a pretty good bumper crop.

Lets See What Blooms

My son received this cute little pot on Valentines Day...

Well actually about 2 weeks after Valentines Day and we just got around to setting it up.

It's a little pot with seeds and dirt (it's a little kit). We have it all potted and sitting in a nice sunny window. When something starts to bloom I'll post some pics. We will have to transplant them when they start growing though. There is definitely not enough room for those roots to grow in that little pot.

Peppers and Plans

Well it's been a little while since I've posted. It's still cold here ..well it is February. My pepper plants are still alive as you can see I've thinned them out to just three. They are still pretty small. I think its because I keep my house rather chilly. I've got them in a nice sunny window though and that should help.

I've also started going through Seed Catalogs to find plants that are compact. They should grow better in the containers then their counterparts. I'm still looking for some good containers as well. I'm kind of leery of using plastic planters because I don't want the chemicals to leach into the soil and then into my plants but the normal Terracotta pots will require a great deal more water. While wooden ones are very nice to look, I worry about rot and stone ones would be hard to move. It would seem the most obvious choice would be Ceramic but the cost is a little prohibitive.


I've been keeping an eye out on Freecycle and Craigslist and with spring on the way there should be some sales so I'll just have to keep looking.

Look What I Got

Aren't those just the cutest little pepper plants you have ever seen. Of course now I have to decide which to pull to thin it out. Poor little pepper plants.

Choosing Vegetables

In an effort to decide what Veggies to plant I've been consulting a book called Gardening in Small Spaces, written by Marcus Schneck. It talks about all the different aspects of gardening when you don't have much room. (although the pictures they have show yards with a great deal of space) In the back is has a list of Vegetables best suited to growing in a container.

The ones that he suggest are: Beans (pole), beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, eggplant, lettuce, muskmelons,onions, parsley, peas, peppers, radishes, spinach, squash, swiss chard, and tomatoes. With his listed vegetables he offers advice on how deep the container should be and how much soil it should hold so that the plants have the necessary room to grow.

Based on this list I've decided to try growing broccoli, cucumbers, lettuce, melons, onions, peppers, spinach, squash and tomatoes. Now I just have to wait for my seed catalogs to arrive so I can start choosing the varity I want. I'm look for compact plants from companys that sell heirloom seeds and organic seeds.