The Contained Garden: Day 1

So, I am starting this blog a few days late. For me it is currently Day 9. I plan to speed through the first few days to 1) Document all the things I did and didn't do and 2) Catch everyone who is reading ~~or not reading~~ up to speed.

Day 1

So Day 1 started out your basic way: I got up and started working on the garden in the morning and kept working til about 7pm. I took a couple breaks but for the most part I stayed outside and gardened and listened to music and contemplated all the worlds problems.

The day before I was out buying my plants and products at home depot. They were having a 1/2 off plants Spring Black Friday Sale! UH-MAZING! At Home Depot I bought 2 4-packs of Black Magic Zucchinis, 2 Patio Tomato plants, 1 Yellow Crookneck Squash, 2, Sugar Baby Watermelons, 2 Strawberries, 2 9-packs of Red Leaf Lettuce, 2 English Lavender, 2 Rosemary, 1 Onion Chive, 1 Sage, 1 Purple Basil, 1 Sweet Mint, 1 Peppermint, and 1 Bee Balm. I also bought a pack of Rainbow Carrot seeds. (Its a mixture of different colored and species of carrots)

At Home Depot, I also bought a couple of Square Clay Pots for my Stolen Knock Out Rose (from last year) and my Hydrangea (that I also bought at Home Depot with everything else). Because we live down town, our apartment faces a major pedestrian thoroughfare. We live smack dab in the middle between a parking garage and the local pub. So, needless to say our garden has suffered some mishaps due to unruly children. My beautiful Climbing Rose that produced Blood Orange to Pink blooms was stolen straight off our porch! That thing was not light either. It probably weighed 50lbs! Anyway, while I was out buying these plants and pots, I had to keep in mind that the pots needed to be heavy and tethered down.

On this trip I also bought some Potting Mix. (Truth be told I made a trip earlier in the week and bought 1 bag of soils first) The first bag I bought was Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix. I bought it because it was on sale for a pretty good price and I figured it was a pretty decent brand. The second bag of soil that I bought was during my big Home Depot trip and that was Scotts Moisture Advantage Potting Soil. This bag was in the Clearance bin for $2.08!!! Can't freaking beat that! So far I am happy with both of these brands. I honestly bought them because they were on sale, but I made sure I bought what I needed. I did a little research prior to my shopping trips and discovered that I needed a Potting Soil and NOT a garden soil. I needed something that had a lot of nutrients packed into a little dirt. I also knew going into this venture that moisture would be an issue. Our apartment has full sun ALL DAY LONG!

There is also the issue that I am slightly forgetful and tend to go a couple days between watering. And, there is also the obstacle of not having an outdoor water hose attachment. Do you know what this means? If I want to water my plants, I have to travel to the bathtub, fill up a pitcher, water plants, repeat 10 times. UGH. So, needless to say, these bags share the same quality of having "moisture control". And honestly, I would say that so far they are truly living up to their name! The soil stays pretty moist. I would totally recommend these 2 bags.

In addition to plants, soil, and pots, I also bought some zip ties (to attach everything so jerks can't steal my stuff) and pesticides! I noticed a couple days before my shopping trip that my garden area had slugs! EW! So, I bought some slug and snail repellent. Just so its out there: My only stipulation on buying slug and snail control was whether or not it was okay to apply to my plants, and whether or not it was safe around my animals. The stuff I bought checked those boxes, so I bought it and it seems to be holding up real well. :)

So, after hours and hours and hours of gardening, this was the out come. :) ENJOY THE GARDEN PORN!

The Right Side of the Garden.

The Top Half of the Right Side of the Garden. You can see the 2 Patio Tomatoes in the blue pot. I also planted Pansies in there too for some fun and color. In the beige pot, I have Red Leaf Lettuce and Carrot seeds. In the Long Pot I have, (From R to L) 2 English Lavender, 1 Onion Chive, 1 Sage, 1 Purple Basil, 2 Rosemary, and 6 Red Leaf Lettuce Plants.

The Lower Half of The Garden! Top Right to Top Left- In the round pot we have Bee Balm, Sweet Mint, and Peppermint. The pot next to it has White Petunias from last year and the left over clearance pansies. The square clay pot has my Stolen Knock Out Rose and the red pot with the 2 black containers are my carrots.

An important thing to note right about here is that Carrots need deep pots to grow in... Makes sense right? Well, they also cannot be transplanted either. Pretty much where you start growing them is where they need to continue to grow. Well, I didn't know exactly how these little guys were going to turn out and I really didn't have that many pots to waste so I got creative. :) Those Black Containers are actually 4 left over disposable pots from previous plants. I keep all of those old pots and it turns out that I actually have use for them! What I did was take 2 pots and face them mouth to mouth. I taped them together using duct tape (a lot). I then cut the bottom (now the top?) out of one side. And viola! A deep planter! Filled with some soil and seeds and now they good to go. :)

My Black Magic Zucchinis! Currently there are 3 in this pot.

And my Hanging Basket! This has 2 Strawberry plants divided among 3 holes coming out of the side of the planter. On top I have last years petunias and Hot Diggity Dog do these pups smell GOOD!

The Left Side!

In the Blue Pot we have 4 Zuke Plants that got stuck in there because I ran out of pots and soil. In the Medium Green Pot we have my Yellow Crookneck Squash, and in the little Clay Pot we have a left over Zuke.