Kim mentioned last week that she has started a garden in raised beds that her hubby built for her! I have also started a garden, but due to my SMALL yard and having our house on the market, I thought container gardening would be the best way for me to go.
I am completely clueless about gardening.. so I am learning right along with you! I started my hunt for containers which was a whole process in itself! Those darn things can be expensive! So here is what I found as alternatives (thanks to other mamas!) to buying them from a nursery:
- You can slice open bags of top soil or potting soil and plant your fruits and veggies right into the opening (someone also suggested doing this with bails of hay)
- Use 18 gallon rubbermaid containers and drill holes in the bottom for drainage. They sell them at home depot for $3.50 a container. They aren't the prettiest so make some paint and have your kids decorate them!!!
- Curb Shop! Watch on garbage day and drive around with an empty trunk! People are always looking to buy new containers for the spring so they throw out the old.
- You can use a food-grade 5 gal bucket and drill some 1/2" holes in the bottom.
- Go to your local nursery and see if they will give you some of the cheap black plastic pots they use for their plants (that is what we did and so we got our containers for FREE! )
Once I got my containers, I started making a list of what plants I wanted... this was really hard! I wanted everything, but ended up just picking a few things to start so I didn't get too overwhelmed. I ended up with strawberries, blueberries, tomatoes, kale, spinach, and banana peppers. I bought them all as established plants, except the spinach which I started from seed. I planted them all in individual containers with potting soil (this is lighter than top soil and better for containers) and mixed it with compost. Since then, some of my friends and family have donated some of their plants so I have added rosemary, thyme, chives, lemon balm (great for keeping away bugs), peppermint (which you can rub on you to prevent bug bites), and a stevia plant.
Cody and I go out every day to water and weed (if needed). It has been pretty cool to see everything grow! Here are a few pics of my babies :)
Rosemary Banana Peppers
Tomatoes Chives
Things I have learned so far:
- A good rule of thumb is to plant after Mother's day to avoid risk of frost. If you plant before this, watch the weather for frost. All you have to do is lay a sheet over your plants
- With any vine, you need to purchase the "cages" so they can climb. (like the one in the tomato plant pic)
- From what I have, everything has been super easy to grow and has grown really fast, except for the strawberries and blueberries.
- If your plant didn't come with an identification card, make your own out of wood paint sticks you can get for free from any store that sells paint (like the one in the chives pic)
- Critters LOVE plants! We had a family of groundhogs living under our shed. They destroyed all of my kale and spinach plants :( We put peppermint oil on cotton balls and dropped them in their holes and haven't seen them since!
- Containers give you a limited space that you don't get a ton of crop (which I knew, but still a little bummed...)
That's it for now! It has been awesome to go out to my backyard and pick veggies and herbs to make with dinner and seeing Cody pick strawberries off the vine is pretty amazing too! Container gardening is a great alternative for those of you who have small spaces or need to have a "mobile" garden. You may not turn a huge crop, but the satisfaction you get from growing some of your own food and being able to teach your kids where food comes from makes it all worth it!!!
We would love to hear about your garden adventures and any tips and tricks you have learned along the way! We will be posting Recipes with food that we have used from our garden as we make them! We would love for you to share your favorite recipes with us!
