Friday, July 06, 2012

Friday Garden Party

Happy Friday!  If you've been following along (especially on Instagram), you know that I decided to start a container garden on my deck this year.  What started out as "just a few things" has grown to containers lining nearly the entire outer edge of the deck... much to the dislike of the Lapdogs, as I'm taking over their precious lounging space.  I have had to reorganize to ensure their Chucky, Bunny and Birdie watching spots are all clear (because otherwise I have toppled plants).

These were taken in mid-May.  As you can see, my girls are very interested in Mommy's garden.  In the top row, you can see my grape tomatoes in the terra cotta colored pots, then freesia bulbs and container tomatoes in the pretty blue pots.  In the bottom row, you can see the beginnings of sweet basil, beans and green onion.  The raspberry bush that I got to plant in the yard is in the big round brown pot.  I'm not sure how it'll do in the pot, but it never made it to the yard.

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The grey pots below are bell pepper plants (I've since divided them out) and broccoli (rip - more about that in a second).  Sophie is sniffing out a grape tomato plant...


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These are from the end of  May.  Bell peppers, pineapple sage, grape tomatoes, container tomatoes and cucumbers & brussel sprouts on the left.  Raspberry bush, strawberries, freesia and sweet basil on the right.  Yes, Lola likes basil, but she really likes pineapple sage!  In fact, she'll go sit by the pineapple sage plant while we're out on the deck and wait for me to pick a couple of leaves for her to much. 

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Down here is zucchini and the pot of green onions and beans on the left.  On the right you can see the broccoli I had in a few pots.  They went to flower after a heat spell, so I followed the instructions I found on the internet and cut the heads off, hoping for side shoots.  The side shoots came, followed by more heat... RIP Broccoli Plants 2012.  Their pots have now been repurposed with more cucumbers, beans, and green onions.
 
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A few misc Instagram shots along the way (and yes, that tomato has a horn)...

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The following photos were all taken on June 26th.  Here is my apple mint and sweet basil..

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Green beans and green onions on the left, mini carnation plant on the right...

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Brussel sprouts and cucumbers on the left, pansies just started on the right.  My brussel sprout leaves have been getting eaten by beetles or something since this photo.  I have no idea if we'll get actual veggies from the plants or not.

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Bell peppers... green on the left, and a green and orange in the bigger pot on the right.

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Strawberries and zucchini...

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The two "container tomato" plants... (the Instagram photo above of the huge tomato plants are beefsteak and grape)

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This "container" variety is doing really well!  In fact, I picked my first vine ripe tomato on Tuesday and will be going out to pick a few more today.  These were taken over the weekend/earlier this week...

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Hopefully we'll have some ripe grape tomatoes soon as well, and my beans just started to grow (in the pot with the green onions).
 
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This is all very much an experiment as to what will grow in pots (I did pick veggie seeds that were all suitable for containers), as well as the size of the pots, etc.  At the very least, I think I will have some delish tomato and mozzarella salad all summer long, since I'm already getting tomatoes and my basil is doing fantastic (so much so, I planted some more in 2 smaller pots - you can never have too much basil!).  The pineapple sage plant is also doing fantastic!  Once I transplanted it to a larger pot, it grew out like a weed!  It smells delish (yes, like pineapple) and as mentioned above, Miss Lola absolutely loves it (the other dogs won't touch it).  I've made sun tea with some (photos next week) and have shared clippings with a friend.  Fingers crossed I'll have some more veggies to show off in the coming weeks, but I really am proud of my prized first tomato above!

I know I've heard from a couple of you about container gardens this year.  Perhaps it's a growing trend (yes, ha ha)?  Who else out there is doing it and what results have you had so far?

7 comments:

SissySees said...

Neat! Maybe I'll be inspired to give it a whirl next year...

jen said...

Bravo! I think you are using some hidden ingredient in your soil there!
Lol!

Here are my stats so far,
1 beautiful green pepper
numerous green beefsteak tomatoes, numerous green cheery tomatoes and 4 cukes that should be ready by the end of the weekend!

WonderWhyGal said...

oooh, I am so jealous. Our heat wave is killing/or has killed any plant we have. We've been watering our garden like crazy but it cries for natural rain.

Kathy R said...

You are a farmer! I haven't had a container garden in a long time. Heat, work, stuff just gets in the way. But you are inspiring me! Got to love those herbs especially.

Sue said...

I wish our weather was more conducive to growing anything outside. I love that shot of Lola and 'her' plant.

I've heard that broccoli is hard to grow and I think it takes two years to mature, or was that asparagus?

AllyB said...

I'm jealous of your pretty garden! I've been so lazy this year I haven't planted even one flower in my yard. There's always next year. The Saint has been coddling a few herb plants that he started from a Chia Garden box that had been under the kitchen prep table for about 4 yrs, LOL. I'm amazed that they are still alive actually, and that he remembers to water them every morning. Give those handsome doggies a few scratches from me and my bunch. Have a great weekend.

Bubblesknits said...

You've got quite the garden going there! I've never had much luck with anything other than peppers and tomatoes. We're wanting to try again now that we've moved.

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