Inspiration > Lawn & Garden

Patio Container Gardening

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My wife and I are often dissatisfied with the quality of produce we buy at our local megamart. The farmer’s market is good, but expensive, and we find the hydroponic vegetables go bad faster than we can eat them. Since my wife is disabled, having a regular garden in the backyard is problematic, even though we have the room for it. We’ve thought about container gardening for a couple of years now.

A former teacher of mine in Virginia had one when we visited her last summer and enjoyed great success with it. She gave us a book on the subject and I thought of ways I could implement this on our back patio. It would be something I could build. It would be tall enough that my wife could assist without having to bend over in painful and debilitating ways. It would be difficult, if not impossible to overwater. It would be protected from the most pernicious of produce pilferers. It would be… glorious.

Then I was hit by a clue-by-four and decided to scale things back.

There are a variety of containers suitable for container gardening. You can find them at any hardware store that sells lawn and garden supplies. The important thing is that they are large enough for the crops you sow, and they have good drainage.

I wanted to raise the containers up for two reasons: to make it easier for my wife to access the crops, and to restrict access to rabbits, squirrels, and other critters. I used two cinder blocks per container for this. The containers I purchased for the main part of the garden included a mesh platform to keep dirt off the bottom of the container so that it could be watered from below. The containers included drains so that water that didn’t absorb into the dirt would drain off, making it impossible under normal circumstances to overwater the crops.

Cinder Blocks for Container Gardening Project

Container Assembled for Container Gardening Project

I added dirt to the containers, per the instructions, then a layer of garden lime. I add more dirt, then fertilizer. Then, I added a final layer of dirt to bring it up even with the top of the container. We had seedlings growing in peat and transplanted them about a week later (due to issues with weather and other delays), covering everything with the supplied mulch covers (which were little more than fitting plastic sheets held on with binder clips).

Dirt Layer One for Container Gardening Project

Garden Lime for Container Gardening Project

Fertilizer for Container Gardening Project

Container Covers for Container Gardening Project

Adding Plants to the Container Garden

All our seedlings (except for one exceptionally hearty pea plant) died.

The reason for this is because the mulch covers obscured so much of the dirt that we couldn’t tell that it dried out. If we had removed the mulch cover before planting, this would have been clear, but pulling fragile shoots and leaves up through the cover would have been much more difficult than planting down through the cover.

There was no time to re-grow more plants from seedlings. We went out and bought new plants, which were much bigger than the seedlings we tried to plant. I tore off the mulch covers and we replanted our garden. Since pea plants seem to be unknown in this part of the country, we replanted some new peas and hoped they would germinate and grow. We also planted some new radishes.

Seedlings for Container Gardening Project

New Plants Planted for Container Gardening Project

Three weeks later, our garden is flourishing. Unless it’s raining, I’ve been watering every day and the plants are growing at a phenomenal rate. Our lone surviving pea is now joined by several other small sprouts and the new radishes are healthy. We also have some basil in smaller pots. It’s like we’re growing our own salad bar!

After 3 Weeks for Container Gardening Project

I followed the directions and failed (though I do accept some responsibility for the failure). I went with my instincts and things are going great. I still think I have a black thumb, but at least I can grow a salad.

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7 responses to “Patio Container Gardening”

  1. sabir says:

    This was actually a good thing for me.

  2. xboxcodes says:

    Thanks, I liked the article!

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  4. baytzahaby says:

    قم بإزالة البقع الصلبة الكبيرة من الأثاث بملعقة كبيرة إذا كان السبب هو انسكاب الطعام أو الحطام الكبير جزئيا أو رقائق الحجر أو الحطام الواضح. إزالة الغبار والبقع الصغيرة: تتم إزالة البقع الصغيرة الملتصقة بالجوانب في زوايا العناصر الداخلية وفي الأماكن الضيقة باستخدام مكنسة كهربائية ، بالإضافة إلى ذلك ، من الضروري تنظيف الوبر أو شعر الحيوانات الأليفة الملتصق بالنسيج بفرشاة ملابس أو فرشاة خاصة لإزالة شعر الحيوانات. شعر. ابدأ بتنظيف القماش. يوصى بتنظيف الأقمشة وفقا للمواد المحددة في التعليمات وعدم استبدالها بمواد صلبة يمكن أن تلتصق بها وتتلف القماش أو تغير لونه وفقا للتعليمات.
    يجب تنظيف آثار ورائحة الحيوانات الأليفة على الفراش والسجاد في المنزل وجعلها غير سارة للمالك. لهذا الغرض ، تم تطوير بعض المنظفات الخاصة لإزالة البقع والآثار ، ويجب الانتباه إلى التعليمات المذكورة أعلاه للفراش ، بما في ذلك مزيلات البقع الإنزيمية: وهي منظفات إنزيمية فعالة تعمل على تكسير الأحماض الموجودة في هذه الرائحة الكريهة.

    شركة تنظيف منازل

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