Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The Beginnings of a Patio Garden

Before I came back to MI, I got my patio garden off to a start.  I didn't have time to make it pretty, but that doesn't matter as much as actually having things growing:D


Gerber Daisies from Harris Teeter, a sock grass man Torin made at school, a variety of morning glories (to be spread out in different pots later), and a white pot with a moonflower that hadn't sprouted yet.  You can see my hummingbird feeder in the background.  I have no idea if hummingbirds come through my area at all, but better safe than sorry;)


Before I had found a community garden plot, I went on the assumption that I wouldn't have one.  So the terra cotta pots have pole bean and wax bean seeds that hadn't sprouted yet.  I think I'll leave them - what's more fun then going out to the porch an picking some yummy treats?  I have no idea if the smaller pot is big enough, but let's just call it an experiment!

The metal wash bin has a variety of salad fixins - a lettuce mix, green onions, radishes, etc - and two types of nasturtiums (which are edible too!).  There are some cucumber seeds under the wire cage - I'll let the healthiest plant climb up the cage instead of the porch.  Once the greens are over with, I'll fill it with later season crops and/or flowers.


Lettuce, spinach, flowers, parsley, dahlias from Harris Teeter... I would have to look at the seed packets to remember what is where.  There is another bird feeder there too.
See the cardboard underneath?  Well, the last apartment I lived in (about 5 years ago) taught me a lesson in remembering to be aware of drippings... the stuff that falls between the wooden floorboards on unsuspecting neighbors below.  It was a incident involving one of those small blue wading pools full of water on the patio, Torin, and neighbors coming in with groceries at just the wrong moment... I don't like to speak of it now.  :D  So, in a preemptive move to avoid patio wars, I used some giant cardboard strips left from new mattress packaging to prevent an invasion of dirt and compost raining down on the neighbor below. 



Finally, some basil.  Basil needs more light than my patio is able to provide, I think, so I took a different approach.  I bought one of those kitchen rod hanger sets from Ikea, bolted it to the outside rail, and wired the pots to it so they wouldn't blow off.  I'm going to do more of that, I think... the pots already have holes in the bottom, and the rods are pretty inexpensive!

I'm going back this weekend, so I'll have an update on how things are doing soon.  I'm such a geek - I can't wait to see how many true leaves have emerged!