Sunday, July 29, 2018

CONTAINER GARDENING






I miss gardening.    In a number of places we lived I grew large productive gardens.   Here in western Maine our home now is surrounded by trees and there is no place in the yard with enough sun to consider planting a garden. 

I have successfully planted flowers in containers before, so this year I decided I would try vegetables in a container.   I took a large empty cat litter container, drilled holes in the bottom and filled it with potting soil from Walmart.  I planted two cherry tomato plants and one cucumber plant – again from Walmart.    I water then daily and every four weeks water with Miracle Grow. 

Now I have two eight-foot tomato plants, and a cucumber plant that is fixing to climb my porch.   Today we harvested our first cucumber and we seem to be about a week away from harvesting tomatoes.  







Next year I plan to expand the garden – more containers.   Planting in containers requires more attention than an actual garden – regular daily watering and feeding

I have a pumpkin plant by the stone wall in front of the house that seems to be thriving, but the deer keep eating the buds off.  I have some mint growing by the wall and this evening I am going to harvest some of the mint plants and put them around the pumpkin buds – don’t know if this will keep the dear away, but it seems the deer are avoiding the mint.  

Locally grown tomatoes and cucumbers are expensive at the farmers market.  If I get the harvest I expect I will more than pay for the plants and materials invested – and we are eating our own.  

the Ol’Buzzard


3 comments:

  1. Eating what you actually grew goes past the basic economics of it. Bon appétit!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm sure the feeding of fertilizer has helped tremendously, too. I've heard of people planting potatoes in stacked tires. -Jenn

    ReplyDelete
  3. I eventually went to all container gardening in my gardens. It seemed easier to maintain in containers.

    ReplyDelete

COMMENT: Ben Franklin said, "I imagine a man must have a good deal of vanity who believes, and a good deal of boldness who affirms, that all doctrines he holds are true, and all he rejects are false."