Big Garden Ideas Little Garden Space....
It's been in the back of my mind for awhile but 2009 was the time to just take a leap and go for it. Growing up in the Midwest, every year my brothers and I would work in the yard (usually not our choice) with my parents, planting blubs (flowers), weeding, cutting grass, and raking leaves. We would go over my great-grandmothers house and pick beans, greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, okra (yuck) and other veggies I don't remember to fix for dinners. Now that I live out east I must say I took all of that for granted when I was younger.
So as I mentioned before I have a garden this year. Not a full sized spacious garden like my great-grandmother, but a container garden. When I first decided to embark on this journey I had a few goals in mind:
1. How many items could I actually grow?
2. How cheaply could I start the garden?
3. Would I ever had enough of some veggie to host my very own Iron Chef America (lol)
When I began looking at seed catalogues, just like a child in a candy store my eyes initially were bigger than my stomach and pocketbook. When I finally took a breath I settled on a few items that I knew my husband and I would eat:
-Several types of lettuce (from seed)
-Carrots (from seed)
-1 Tomato plant
-Cilantro (from seed)
-Kale and Collard greens (from seed)
-Basil
-Lemon balm
-Rosemary
I'm very excited to see how it all turns out. I've already had 2 dinners of salad with some of the herbs, and have one very nice sized tomato and another a bit smaller.....neither have turned red just yet.
So this will be my journey....a tale of several containers if you will.
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2 Comments
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Comment by Jessica Anderson on June 27, 2009 at 3:20pm - Thank you for your comments Michelle! I would love to expand my container garden a bit but I promised my husband I wouldn't completely take over the balcony :-). I'm sure I can learn alot from you.
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Comment by Michelle W. Flannery on June 25, 2009 at 8:39pm -
Hi there Jessica. Congratulations on becoming a gardener! Just like the seasons of the year change and rotate, you'll find your attitude about gardening changing and rotating too (I love gardening! I hate gardening! I love gardening! I hate...) Hang in there, and don't give up. It's worth it all to pick that first ripe tomato!
Each year we do a bit more in our gardening efforts. This year we added a second in-ground garden, and I expanded my container garden. No matter how much ground I plant, I just have to have my container garden too! I love stepping out the front door and having fresh veggies at arm's length. Every year I add more to my container garden. This year I got really ambitious. I've got 20 herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, sweet potatoes, swiss chard, and banana peppers -- all in pots! There's barely room for me to walk around on the front deck! I bet it won't be long before you're doing something similar. Gardening is just too addictive not to! Best gardening wishes!!!!
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