How To: Container Gardening Part 2

Time for part two! If you're just joining us part 1 can be found here. I will answer some questions pertaining to container gardening in this post. I'm going to go ahead and jump right in:

What kind of dirt should I use for container gardening?

This is something that has differing views, but I will give you mine. There are a lot of products out there that seem to have a good purpose but that you can probably do without. Go to any garden section at a big box store and you will find 15 different kinds of soil for specific situations. Maybe these have merit, like I said I am not a pro container gardener. But some of the reasons I've read for using container specific soil don't make sense to me. I've read not to use garden soil because it gets compacted, however the soil in my garden gets compacted over time and it works fine for growing vegetables. I've read that you should buy specific soil because garden soil may be too acidic or basic, but again, the soil we use in our garden works just fine. Another reason I read was that garden soil may have weeds and pests in it. That is true, and buying soil will help you avoid that, but it seems like a bit of overkill to buy new soil every year just to avoid some weeds and bugs. So my suggestion is to use what we use in our garden: a 2 to 1 ratio of top soil and amendment. Amendment is basically a bag of organic matter (compost, peat moss, mushroom mix and a few other things) that adds nutrients and other good stuff to your soil. I would recommend checking out a local garden store or nursery, they usually have what you need as well as a lot of good advice!

How To: Container Gardening Part 1

One thing that is so great about gardening is anyone can do it. There are plenty of different methods when it comes to gardening, but they all follow the same basic principles: plant seeds or a plant in the dirt, water it, and let it grow. I know that a big concern for a lot of people who want to garden is space. Many people have small yards, rent their homes, or live in apartments which would quickly rule out an in ground garden. But never fear, just because you are short on space doesn't mean that you can't grow yourself some food.

the large pot was $10 at lowe's - they were on a big flat
in the outside garden area and were all very brightly colored

First off I just want to throw it out there that I do not have much experience growing in containers. I am hoping to remedy that this year; I am growing cantaloupe, cucumbers, lettuce, dill, cilantro, oregano, basil and strawberries in containers this year. I might even pick up one more big pot and see how one of our tomato plants does in a pot vs the garden. But the internet is a wealth of information so I've tried to round up some good information on the subject. As usual I wrote far too much, so I have broken this up into two posts. I am also seriously crunched for time this week so the next post will come at the beginning on next week, I am shooting for Monday but bare with me!

First off let's talk containers. They can be almost anything so don't be afraid to get creative. Here are some cost effective options:

• Cheap pots: I can't find a link, but I found the huge pot in the photo above for only $10 at Lowes 
• Flea market finds: think wooden boxes or metal pails or buckets
• Five gallon buckets
• Making planters with or from pallets like this or this
• Plastic storage tubs: this would work of you wanted something wider but still deep, or if you have some extras lying around
• Upcycling! Find containers that would normally be thrown away and get to planting. If you don't like the way they look Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint ($4 at Walmart) works wonders. The large pots I got from Lowes were bright blue which I wasn't digging (garden puns!) so I spray painted them.
• use old kitty litter containers (the big ones)
• use tire as planters in your yard
• apparently you can go to bakeries (like the Walmart bakery) and ask for icing buckets which are large buckets that they will often give away for free
• grow food in a reusable grocery bag like this tomato plant and this lettuce
• grow directly in a bag of soil

How To: Building a Raised Bed Garden

This weekend we spent some much needed time outside. Mother Nature gave us a beautiful, sunny 70 degree day Saturday...and then it snowed Sunday morning. She is a fickle lady. But we were still able to get some things done, and the dusting of snow we got overnight melted away quickly. We have four raised beds in our garden but decided to add a long bed between the original four beds and the fence, which is what we worked on on Saturday and what I am going to write about today. Shout out to our friends Simon and Emily for keeping us company and helping out with building our box! Work is always better with the company of friends. I've had a few people ask about our raised bed and how we built them, so I took (far too many) photos yesterday and am going to provide some simple instructions on how to make them yourself.

working hard - i believe emily and i were sitting
on the deck eating girl scout cookies at this moment

I don't want to take over our yard with our garden. Well, I actually DO want to do that, but I'm trying to be reasonable. If we at some point sell our house I don't want potential buyers to think we're insane/worry about having to pull out a massive garden area if they're not gardeners. So we opted to add a 15 foot box in between the current boxes and the fence. It doesn't extend into the yard any farther and Nathan doesn't have to squeeze the mower back there - win win! Building the boxes is very easy. If you can work a saw you can bust these bad boys out in a day.

Gardening: Where to Start

When I posted the link to my blog on Facebook I had a friend comment and say that she wanted to plant a garden this year, but had no idea where to start. You know how anytime a professor asks a question in Harry Potter, Hermoine excitedly wiggles in her seat with her hand straight up in the air? I am totally having one of those excited "I can help" moments. While I am definitely not an expert, I feel a bit like a crazy plant lady these days and if I don't know the answer I will do my best to find it. So where to start? Here are some things to consider when you are ready to plan your garden:

What sort of space am I working with? 

a view of our garden area from the deck

I think people generally begin to think about what they'd like to grow, but the first thing you should plan out is your garden space. Do you want several raised beds and six tomato plants so you have the option of canning? Do you want a container garden with peppers and tomatoes so you can avoid buying them at the store? Figuring out how much space you have will help answer these kind of questions. You have a few options here:

Containers: This is a great option if you are short on yard space. You can use just about anything: terra cotta pots, plastic pots, DIY boxes or even thrift store finds (think wooden boxes or old metal containers). A few things to keep in mind: it will need holes to drain out extra water, which can be drilled into the bottom if there are none, and bigger is better. Seriously, the more room you give your plants, the bigger they will be able to grow their root system, the more soil they will have to "eat" from and the more food you will get. Some things do better in smaller pots, like herbs or greens (think spinach and lettuce), but things like tomatoes and peppers will really benefit from having more space.