Charlie and I do not have much in
common. If fact, this has been a major road bump in our relationship
over the years. Although we have many different interests we do have
one that we share and that is gardening.. Every fall and winter we
talk about our plans for gardening constantly. When spring rolls
around we can barely contain ourselves. Every single year we kill at
least half of our crop because we start too early. We always try
something different as well. The first year we did planter boxes. We
had never gardened before and put everything way too close so all the
plants ended up strangling each other for lack of room. The next year
we worked in a gardening spot in the back corner of our backyard.
This seemed like a good space but the dirt was just no good. Our
neighbors told us that when they had built these houses the builders
took all the top soil and just left the clay. Unfortunately the only
thing that grew that year was weeds. The year after that we were
still determined to make that plot in the corner work so we rented a
heavy duty tiller and many bags of soil and manure. My husband worked
that soil like nobody's business. He even made and installed his own
drip system for every individual plant. All the hard work we put in
that year and the plants still struggled to grow. We eventually gave
up and let the weeds and lack of water kill them off. This year we
tried to convince ourselves that we were finished with the heartache
and would find a new hobby. We almost were convinced but then spring
came around again. The beautiful weather, all the tempting plants
sitting out on shelves at EVERY store, we just could not resist. We
sat down and had a serious conversation. If we were really going to
give it another shot, how were we going to do it? It is difficult to
pour hundreds of dollars and hours upon hours worth of your time and
effort to yield no crop. We decided to try something that we hadn't
done before. We were going to grow everything we wanted to grow but
were going to do it in containers. Next we came up with the list of
what we wanted to plant.
Plants In Containers:
Green Beans
Mr. Stripey Heirloom Tomato
Patio Tomato
Sugar Snap Peas
Zucchini
Yellow Squash
Strawberries
Green Bell Pepper
Mexibell Pepper
Jalepeno
Sweet Gypsy Pepper
Romaine Lettuce
Herbs In Containers:
Stevia
Cilantro
Oregano
Parsley
Basil
Mint
After looking at
our list we knew a few items were missing..
Carrots, onions,
radishes and red potatoes. The plan of action we decided to take was
to build a raised bed close to our patio and the hose to put the
carrots, onions and radishes in. We have never planted potatoes
before and so had no idea what to do with them. I obviously knew just
what to do and turned to Pintrest. I found a container built
specifically for potatoes and it looked amazing. I showed it to my
hubby and the decision was made... As the potatoes grow, we will add
siding and soil. That way they will continue to grow up the
structure. As is gets taller we can remove the bottom planks and pull
potatoes out. This container we built is suppose to rear up to 100lbs
of red potatoes each season.
Everything looks
great and we both have high hopes for this year!!
We didn't over
plant, everything will be easy to water and the weeds should be easy
to control. There is nothing quite like picking fruits, herbs and
veggies off of your own plants and preparing them to eat. What a
wonderful gift God has given us through plants and gardening.
I will keep you
all updated on our container garden's progress this summer..
