It's rained here for days so we've not been able to get the final tilling done in the garden in order to be ready to plant. If the weather man is correct, we are going to have some nice days in order to dry out a bit and get that done. I am hoping that I can plant by Tuesday or Wednesday. We got out to my favorite plant farm, Cox's Plant Farm to get my plants and seeds, so I am ready. I just need the weather to cooperate!
I used to have gladiolas planted on either side of my back deck steps. A wonderful neighbor gave me some bulbs as he thinned his, assuring me I couldn't kill them. What do you know? He was right...LOL As pretty as they are, I pulled up the ones on one side of the steps so that I could put in some containers for some veggies. I put them on the far side so that they are less noticeable since I didn't go buy all new, matchy-matchy pots for my veggies. I used stuff I could find around here.
I started with some old toy totes we had in the back yard from when the kids were little.
This old green tote is 3 steps high compared to my deck steps, I put a mix of compost and some sand in it and that little bit of green you see are carrots coming up.
This old purple tote is just slightly smaller than the green one, in it is just compost and those dots in it are onions sets.
These two old metal wash tubs were formally used in an attempt to have flowers out front. It was an unsuccessful attempt...LOL. Now, the one on the left has Spinach int he back (it's not up yet) and radishes in the front. Yes, I know, they need thinned, I'll get to it. In the bucket on the right is leaf Lettuce. Currently, it is about 1 1/2" tall and looking good. I generally plant Mesclun lettuce but I was using up seed packets and this is still a yummy mix of leaf lettuce. I can't remember the name but I like it because you can cut it with scissors before dinner and it will continue to regrow where you cut it. An almost endless supply of lettuce!
I have also re-purposed several old flower pots in order to grow some herbs.
As you can see from my terrible attempt at labeling the inside of the pots after they were planted, these two pots hold Dill and Basil. Dill is usually better planted in the ground but we're gonna give it a try in a pot anyway.
More flower pots of herbs. The big green one is Parsley, the little green one is Oregano. The bigger white one is Chives and the smaller white one is Thyme. Thyme is new for me to grow so we'll see how it goes. Around here, everything is an experiment!
The herb pots are on my deck on either side of the steps. I did this so that they are waist high for me to weed or harvest and if I am having a really bad day, I can sit on the steps to do it. The other pots with the other veggies in them are tall enough that it should be easy to tend too. And again, if I'm having a bad day, a small stool sat next to the pots will allow me to tend to those easily. It's all about adapting to what I need.
I won't be able to grow as much produce as I normally have in the past but any fresh produce is great produce. And it is that much less that I am buying. All of the seeds and the onion sets used in the buckets pictured costs less than $10.00. The compost was from the compost pile I had to move when we had to move a fence section...so it was free. The amount of lettuce alone that I will harvest from these pots would have cost more than what I paid for all the seeds/sets. And I will still be able to put up a lot of the herbs and some veggies to be used throughout the year.
I have the plan on how I will put out the other plants and seeds in order to be more manageable for me. I will share pictures of that as I get it planted.
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