Saturday, August 18, 2012

My (mostly) container garden today

I recently found out that my little brother was interested in growing plants. I honestly didn't know that he had interests outside of work, video games and his girlfriend. But you learn something new every  day.  Unfortunately he only has a small balcony and a few things in pots. But I wanted to show him that it's ok to grow stuff in containers, most of my plants are in containers.  You just have to water them more and remember to replenish the nutrients in the soil. So here is my "garden" tour. (Sorry, lots of pictures)


My potted cucumbers (pickling).




My pimiento de padron grown from seed saved from nursery plant.




Mint


Thai Chilis (seeds from Renee's Garden). Some of the pods are rather large and fleshier than normal thai chilis.




The remains of one Super Sweet 100 plant, sun burnt leaves removed. Looks really scraggly and
should be replaced with a new volunteer that sprouted up, but I just can't give up on it!





My small patch of asparagus just gathering lots of energy for next spring.




Rosemary plant in need of a trim in my strawberry bed that needs to be replanted.





My border bed containing bush beans, more cucumbers, patty pan squash and bittermelon.




The bittermelon I have my eye on right now. Its about the size of a pinky.... I'm so excited!




Potted Asian herbs.





A Super Sweet 100 plant just waiting for a home (It sprouted up out of a
Cala Lilly plant, kind of weird).




My Dwarf lime plant, looks like we might actually get a lime this year!






My Pineapple Tomato plant in a smart pot.




Store bought basil (I had terrible germination issues this year) and a mystery
tomato plant (my tags go stolen by one of the two boys or they may have
worked in conjunction, but highly unlikely).



Another picture of the basil (photo makes it look a little off color doesn't it?).



Thai Chili bought from Lowes, pods look more like regular thai chili, hope they are hot!




Hot Banana Peppers, they have been yummy so far.



My only raised bed, contains 2 huge eggplant, 1 small Japanese eggplant, a zucchini, kale,
misc arugula, lettuce (bolted and needs to be pulled), bell peppers, jalapenos, habaneros,
Serrano's, a couple of misc scallions, and my attempt to grow wintermelon from seeds
saved from store bought melon.




Zucchini and a hidden scrawly tomato plant.




My fig tree.






My first fig of the season.




Corn being grown for looks and to hid the hole in the fence the dog
keeps trying to visit the neighbors dog through. Looks like we may get enough corn for 2 dinners.

My mom's favorite plant, my lemon grass.


Watermelon plant, planted in April, but languished and did absolutely nothing until very recently.
Good thing we have a LONG growing season.



Horseradish in a pot (I am so lazy, and digging the horseradish out last year was hard work.....)

A pot of green garlic and some thyme.

My Super Sweet 100 plant that is not doing well, horrible powdery mildew.

Chives and garlic chives.

So that's where the magic happens.... I wish that we had more space that received good sunlight to have more beds, but we make due with what is around. My main struggle on a day to day basis in the backyard is keeping the grass and palm trees alive (and keeping the dog out of freshly amended soil... but that is a whole different issue!).  Now it is time to turn my thinking to the fall/winter plants that I would like to see in the garden. We really don't get a frost here in SoCal, so I really do not have an excuse to not have a wonderful harvest every week.

What is going on in your garden today?

4 comments:

  1. Your potted plants look so good! I've never been good at container gardening. I either water too much or forget to water at all, so only the few pots that are actually in the main garden, and get watered when everything else does, do anything at all for me. I've already killed every potted plant on my patio, while the ones in the garden flourish!

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    1. Thanks AG, I hope to one day have a garden as lush as yours! But we make due :) I always feel bad for the container plants when we go on a vacation in the summer, I always rush out to give them some water when we get home! I have toddler syndrome when it comes to plants, I want, want, want more! So it is a challenge to decide what to plant. Fortunately we have lots of time to grow, so I can do more than one rotation. I am hoping that your lettuce growing rubs off on me so I can have some this fall.

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  2. What a great job you've done with container gardening. I also have limited space so I garden in a few small raised beds and lots and lots of containers too!

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  3. You're SOOOOO.... lucky to have a long growing season! I've always wanted that. We have at most 3.5 months June to mid- Sept. My bittermelon is the size of third of a pinkie :) I'm not sure we'll get it before frost(: I loved your thyme and Rosemary. Thyme here is maybe 3 inches tall and rosemary never germinated(gave it two tries). They're probably perennials over there! Loved your garden pics!

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