163. Garden-Along Post #2

I'm all set to grow.  Are you?

Yesterday I rummaged around in my basement and found two plastic window boxes that are no longer in use, and a large round plastic planter, as well.  All of these used to be for growing flowers, but you know that story:  The food-growing has greatly curtailed the flower-growing activity, although if you saw my front yard you might think I was whacked for saying so. 

I took a quick trip to Gardener's Supply and bought some Intervale potting soil and compost.  I also picked up some seeds (as if I needed any). 

A summer lettuce collection, "European Reds & Greens"; a mesclun mix, "Paris Market Mix"; and "Pan-Pacific Greens/Renee's Stirfry Mix," all from Renee's Garden.  I also got some Crimson Giant radishes.  In this photo I've also placed Red Romaine seeds that I already had, but I ended up planting neither the Romaine nor the radishes last night.

In addition, I bought two pepper plants to replace two that have kicked the bucket.  One was on its way out anyway, I'm not sure why, and the other was knocked over in the storm we had the night before last. 

Please don't ask about the other little green thing that's in the 12:00 position in the top photo.  Oh, all right. I'll tell you.

In a moment of "what was I thinking?!" I bought a pair of butternut squash plants.  I have NO PLACE for these.  What WAS I thinking?  But I'll find a place; you know I will. 

All right.  Now, about you.  I know you don't want to believe me, but you've already done the hardest part -- choosing your location.  The rest is easy-peasy.  I mean it, especially if you are container gardening.  My biggest problems over the years have only to do with the soil.  A few problems with bugs, too.  We'll talk about that in a later post.  And I know a lot of you have critter issues.  Thank goodness I don't, except for the spouse (see below).  Strange, that.  You'd think we'd be overrun with wildlife, but we are still wild enough here that they know where to stay.  Their habitats have mostly not been ruined by overbuilding (YET, but we're getting there.  Ugh.) and the harsh winters keep the numbers of deer down to a manageable crowd.

Last night, reader Elise W. from Kentucky wrote with this helpful info for warm-climate garden-alongers:

I love the idea of the garden-along (I planted my first vegetable garden this year) and I found a nice resource for a fall planting schedule for those of us who live in warmer climes (I'm in KY).  The chart is based on first frost dates, and can be found here.  

Wonderful info, Elise!  This will help answer the questions I've received from Zone 8 and 9 would-be garden-alongers.

So now you've chosen your location and got your essential stuff. The rest is easy: 

1.  Make sure your pot [we're assuming a container-growing model for this project, to get people who are a bit nervous and hesitant to garden, and yet are interested and want to try, a manageable first shot at it] has a drainage hole or two or three.

2.  If you want (though I hardly ever do) you can place some stones in the bottom of your pot to help with the drainage and prevent the potting soil from washing out the drainage holes.  Most plants don't like to have wet, soggy feet.  Their roots will rot if they do.  They like even, consistent moisture, most of them, though peppers and tomatoes and squashes like to dry out slightly between waterings.  Now, "dry out slightly" does not mean desert conditions.  It means, "not soggy, just to the point of not being moist, then water again."  For pots, things tend to dry out faster, so they can take more water.  For the same reason, because all that water is being washed in there, the soil in a pot needs to be a bit richer and can stand a bit more fertilizer, hopefully organic fertilizer. 

3.  Dump your potting soil into your pot and firm the soil a bit with your hands.

4.  Sow your seeds as directed on the package. 

5.  Cover with soil as directed on the package.  Some seeds need a bit of light to germinate, so they need a lighter topping of soil.  Some need to be in the dark, so they need to have a thicker topping.  But don't obsess over this!  The universe will not tilt if you put a little too much or too little. You don't need to go get a ruler or anything.  Just use your eyes and gauge it within the realm of reasonable.

6.  Firm the top of the soil down.

7.  Water with a fine mist, gently at first, so as not to wash out your new seeds. 

8.  In the beginning, you should water gently twice a day, to keep the soil top evenly moist.  During germination, the seeds can't dry out.  Eventually, once they start growing, you can water a bit less. 

9.  Check them 64,000 times a day to see if they've sprouted.  It's the coolest thing EVER to see your first little sprouts.  It'll be love at first sight, and you'll want to nurture them along just like a newborn baby. 

10.  Stay tuned for further instructions.  Ask questions if you have them.  And check out the comments of the former post for some people's wonderful suggestions for container gardening books and tips. 

Here's my stuff for the project:

European Reds & Greens to the left of my garden entrance in a white windowbox.

French Market Mesclun Mix to the right of the garden entrance, and in front of the tomatoes.

Renee's Stirfry Mix in the round pot, at the corner of one of the black raised beds.

I am loving this project.  It has made me more creative with the space.  It allows me to play with the stones and make little sculptures on which to sit my pots.  It allows me to maximize the space and minimize problems with The Spouse.  He doesn't seem to get that that green thing he is stepping on is probably something I'm growing purposely, even when I tell him 74,309 times (at last count). Having things in the grow beds and the pots helps with this. It's a mnemonic device, if you will. Pot = DON'T STEP HERE.  Men! Don't get me started. 

Remember the arugula I showed you June 5th?  Look at it now:

And lookie!  We have adorable buttons!  A huge thank you to Cheryl who pulled these out of her hat at 10:30 last night.  Wonderful!

I've been asked if we can do this every year, and of course we can!  So I asked Cheryl to put the year on the button.  Should we start a Ravelry group, or just keep it here?  What do you say?

Comments

[Anne]

what fun! I'll delurk to say that we have mad containers full of tomatoes (good timing), and Younger Daughter has planted lettuce, carrots, and one pepper plant. We'll garden along!

[lisa]

Norma the anti raveler wants to start a ravelry group?? Am I in Texas? (or is that Kansas?)???

[Carole]

YOU want to start a ravelry group? Okay, hand over Norma and no one gets hurt.

[Teresa C]

Ravelry group. Definitely. That should be fun to watch.

[MaryB in Richmond]

But if you move to Ravelry ... wouldn't that leave a lot of people out? Since you're getting away from being a Knitting Blog, that sounds counterproductive. (And as you've guessed, I'm not on Ravelry. :-)

[Chris]

I got a late start on my veggie beds this year, and never finished getting two of them ready. Of course I bought enough plants (maybe next year I'll get organized enough to start with seeds) to fill at least all 4 of those veggie beds. And bumped into the heat wave. I think those two beds will become compost heaps this year. But, that leaves me with some little veggie plants that don't want to die. And an empty deck I want to prettify. I ordered a 3 tier plant stand which should arrive Friday, bought some Co-Co liners, and will (today?) make some wire baskets to put them in. I'll be growing parsley (mostly for the rabbits), Roma tomatoes (though I think I need bigger pots for that), and a couple varieties of hot peppers (for the daughter's BF). I still have to do something veggie bed wise for the eggplants though. I suspect they are not good candidates for container gardening. I'd be delighted if you told me otherwise.

[margene]

I'm heading to the garden center on Saturday morning (or maybe Friday if we get back early enough). Maybe I'll join you and plant a couple of pots on my patio. If it gets to hot too quickly they may not make it (pots need so much water in our desert heat) but I will give it the old collage try.

[chris]

Oooooh, I'm lagging behind already! I'll try and catch up this weekend -- won't have time to either buy or make "dirt" before then (I have some containers from last year that are empty except for the soil, but I'm going to "recharge" it with compost for this year).

[Kristine]

I told my mom I was thinking about doing this, and she seriously got tears in her eyes. You gotta understand -- my grandma grew all her own produce until she was so addled that she couldn't remember what time of year it was and started trying to sew her seeds in the middle of winter. Oops. My mom is ashamed that her garden plot is ONLY the size of her garage. ONLY. I survived my pregnancy on that woman's home-grown cukes; seriously, I would show up, and not even say anything, she'd just head out to the garden, and then hand me a bag full of fresh cucumbers, and I'd go away again. It was like a drug deal.

So, I'm thinking cucumbers, a couple of peppers, maybe some radishes and carrots. We'll see what looks tempting once I get to Mazza's. Maybe some beans, although I think I'd have to attach the poles to my upstairs neighbors' railings, and I'm not sure how they'd feel about that. Of course, they're nice, so I might just ask. :)

Rather than moving to ravelry, I have copious free time at work right now -- if lots of people have blogs, we could set up a webring. Just a thought. That way we could just navigate through and see what everyone else is doing for gardening.

[Kayten]

I was all excited, as this year is my first garden, other than a few pots of tomatoes and herbs, in decades. I began a used tire garden a couple of weeks ago, as this old farm property seems to heave up a many tires as rocks. Then I had a minor stroke on 6/1, which put a real dent in my plans. I'm improving rapidly, and got the ok yesterday from my GP to begin mild activity, so I'll have my grown children heave dirt this weekend. I should be able to plant seeds and man a hose. Keep me motivated, Norma!!! Physical and psychological rehab simultaneously.
By the way, I grabbed knitting on my way to the ER, thinking "Must start rehab immediately!,"as my left hand was affected. I thought to myself, "What would be easier than a Baby Surprise Jacket? It's just garter stitch." I started casting on in intensive care between my CAT scan and MRI. The staff came dashing over as I began cackling while drooling down my chin, BP 198/106. "Cast on 160 stitches! I MUST be brain impaired!!" But I persevered, despite being a Continental knitter. It's coming along s-l-o-w-l-y. Playing with dirt should help.

[Roxie]

But if you take it to Ravelry, I won't be able to follow. Whyine!!!! Don't LEAVE me, Norma!! Not when I've just planted my first radish.

[naomi]

I think you meant 'non-gardeners!' there. My dad has the gardens outlined in salvaged railroad ties so my mom knows where not to mow...

[KittyMommy]

Since we will be moving mid-August I was resisting the siren call of container gardening this year, but I just found out we are getting a tomato plant in out CSA box this week. Since we will be getting muddy anyway, we might just have to pick up some lettuce or spinach seeds for another container...

I am not one to turn away when the fates decree...

[jessica~]

I kinda cheated... I purchased ready to go herbs at the Farmers Mkt yesterday and planted them --they were small, but not seeds. :) I really want to go try some arugula though so maybe this weekend I'll grab some seeds.

I vote for Ravelry group to supplement the blog posts. I tend to find it easier to browse through a forum, than blog comments. It does leave out non-Rav peeps, which is why I suggested it be supplemented. I'd help you Mod if you needed it. :)

[jessica~]

fyi: martha just posted about tomato planting
http://blogs1.marthastewart.com/martha/2008/06/the-seeds-sprou.html

[Knitnana]

May I join too? I've done container gardening and have my plants started and all, but I'd like to join...Please?
I'll participate thru the "generic" blog, not the knitting one....okay?
(((hugs)))

[Knitnana]

Oops. Wrong blog...This one is right.

[Kristen]

"It's the coolest thing EVER to see your first little sprouts." I can definitely vouch for this! I've been doing this for over a decade now and I still get excited to see little green things poking up through the soil. Regarding critters, I have trouble with squirrels and birds. Squirrels can be effectively deterred with liberal applications of cayenne pepper (get it in bulk) or one of those new "hot wax" sprays. Birds require more devious methods. I once had sparrows steal an entire windowbox full of basil seedlings. They plucked them up like worms and flew away. It was astonishing. I now use floating row cover until my seedlings are good sized. For some reason the birds aren't as interested once the seedlings look like "real plants." I clip the row cover to my pots with clothespins. If I can figure out how to do it, I'll add one of those buttons to my blog. (I haven't mastered this on Blogger.)

[Carol]

How sad am I? I actually have a huge vegetable patch and I'm STILL planting stuff in containers to play along...

[Lucia]

I'm in, which means I gotta at least get a few pots going. Can we have it on Ravelry *and* here?

[Diane T]

I bought the last patio tomato plant the garden center had that wasn't already growing in weird shapes. Hope my pot is big enough. I'll see what the market has this weekend in the way of other patio-sized produce.

I like the idea of a webring and visiting others' blogs. I really like coming here to see what's going on, so I'm lukewarm on moving it to Ravlery. But whatever works for you is fine by me.

[cari]

As far as critter issues go, we've had great luck keeping the neighborhood cats (^%*&(O* shitting bandits) out of the raised beds using chicken wire. We've got three different approaches going, to see which works best. On one bed, it's tented over and anchored with bricks. On another it's flush with the soil, with holes snipped out for the plants. On the third, we've got a fence around the bed. I'm liking the tented-over style best so far, in terms of ease of use, but all three are keeping the cats out. And we've got bird netting over the berries because I DO NOT want to share. They've got the bird feeder and that's plenty.

[Beth]

I love Ravelry and all, but it's blocked at work. Darn government firewalls. :-) I vote to keep it here...

[Elizabeth]

Well, I thought I was planning a vegetable garden, but I had a visitor who thought maybe not. I don't think she planted anything for me though, so I'm going on with veggies.

[claudia]

Keep this open to non-knitters.

Hubster says there is a big pot in the shed. Perhaps. I know nothing of the shed but will investigate this weekend.

[Andi]

Ok. I planted my 2 3x3 raised bed gardens last weekend. 5 heirloom tomatoes, two zucchini and 2 cucumber plants. Photos to follow.

[Jonelle]

I just might play along. I'm an apartment-dweller, though, so no gardens. I do have two AeroGardens...does that count? I was thinking of doing cherry tomatoes in one, but haven't decided what to load up the other with...maybe the mexican herb blend would be fun. I've never heard of "epazote" before. I wasn't thrilled with the gourmet herb mix. The only pests I have to deal with are the kitties. Fortunately, my DH built me a corner cabinet to put them in..the Aerogardens, not the cats. Darn...now I gotta go get some seed pods!

[Renee]

Norma -- you are such a talented woman and a huge inspiration!! I picked up supplies yesterday and am going to spend my morning planting my container vegetable gardens. I'm trying to figure out where I can squeeze in a raised bed. I used to help my parents with their 1 acre vegetable garden with I was a teenager. Now that I have teenagers I feel like we've missed so much without a garden. My postage stamp sized city lot is no comparison to the farm garden of my youth, but I'm going to be cramming containers where ever I can find enough sun. Thank-you for sharing yourself with us!

[Kim]

Count me in...I am so far behind in blog reading but when I heard about all of your gardening posts, I had to come by and visit. I can tell I am going to have to devote a morning catching up in your corner of the world and I can also tell, I am going to learn some great stuff!

Thanks Norma for sharing!

[Sianabanana]

Im gardening along!!

This is my first summer with a garden so I have been trying to make the most of it by growing some vegies. My dad helped a bit as I didnt get my tomatoes in on time, and with no greenhouse, they are not wanting to grow very quickly. He thoughtfully brought me 5 tomato plants already potted up and some peppers, courgettes and a cucumber too.

Cant wait for them to fruit now.