I should figure out how to label these updates. I also need to post the pictures I took. I’m writing content before adding that great media but here is my exciting container garden update!!!

I know you have all been wondering and tearing your hair out for the next installment of The Container Garden – How Not To…

All kidding aside here is the update.

Carrots: I don’t know where these are. Seriously. My sister says I they come up as little tiny sprigs reminiscent of tiny chives but mine are so tiny there are almost invisible. She has bigger ones in her kitchen window. My verdict is still out on these. I have some mini tom thumb variety growing.

Corn: The corn sprouted so fast I’m a proud mama. I need to thin them now as my little Peanut and I planted 3 per hole. They have two long leaves each. These are also in the Garden Patch pot.

Cucumbers: My first two transplants died. I have another growing in my office but I’m not sure I even want to continue with him. I may put him in my rogue pot. More on that later.

Herbs: My aunt gave me one of those dollar store herb selections and I planted the whole pack in a pot. I’m not even sure what it was. It’s growing kind of. We’ve had a ton of rain so I had to move the water drain catcher thingsy from under most non-self watering pots.

Lettuce: We’ve eaten all of the transplants bought from Whole Foods…or is it Wild Oats? Oh well. My family says this was not a true  test of my gardening skills because they were already doing so well when I purchased them. My indoor flat is not doing well. I put it in more light but I think I’m going to scrap the indoor lettuce. The seeds I started in a pot (non-self watering) with some onions are doing really well. This was a mix from Seedsavers.org. I’m going to sow some more in a week or so to have continuous lettuce for a while.

Onions: These just baffle me. They are doing so well in a pot that I forgot to put the bottom on. They are big and I’m just going to leave them alone. I don’t even remember if I added fertilizer (keep notes unlike me). These were the onions I bought in a bunch at the beginning of the growing season. I put some more out a few weeks ago since they seem to like pots.

Potatoes: I am just so tickled at the potatoes. We have… well four pots actually but one is just

a very small pot I started so my daughter could really see the potatoes. We have 3 big Smart Pots on the ground and they are doing really well in there. We covered them with the next layer of peat moss/ soil mix.  We are following this method pretty much to the T. Just using Smart Pots instead of barrells.

Strawberries: These poor babies have been in a pot most of their lives. I’ve been carrying them around as we move hoping to put them in our backyard when we finally buy a home. I purchased them before I got married so they are about 12 years old now. They are in a Garden Patch pot and have several flowers on each little plant. I’m glad they didn’t give up on me.

Tomatoes: Tomaotes. So tempermental but so worth it. I have my second transplants outside permanently as of Sunday. So far so good. One did go and break in half on me so I gave that to my daughter who was making ’soup’.  My first set all turned into my version of lazy compost except one plant which had hardened up and was growing well. It actually has a flower on it. Replace the Gold Medal I lost today. I don’t know which variety it is though so this will be interesting. All the tomotoes are in Garden Patch planters.

I have one rogue Garden Patch pot where I put thinnings and odds and ends to see what will happen. I really shouldn’t be wasting a self watering container like this but my husband and I like to do things like this for surprises.

Technically this could be a very long blog post. There is just so much information. But I will try to stay on point, make it short, and just set you up with good links.

This year I have decided to grow all of our vegetables in containers. There are a number of reasons but I won’t go into them.  I’ve heard you can do quite well in containers and since I had good success with the in ground garden I’m always up for a challenge.  So my Peanut and I have started the process.

We ordered our seeds from Seed Savers.  If you don’t know about them they are non-profit group of gardeners who share heirloom seeds. You can become a member or just buy from them. My very good friend is a member but I just bought from them without becoming one. I have to see how well I do first. It’s been a while since I did actual food gardening.

We purchased 3 kinds of tomatos, onions, potatoes (yes I’m going to try potatoes in a pot but they won’t come until fall), garlic (same as potatoes fall), corn (yup), lettuce, carrots and cucumbers.

We are using these Jiffy Greenhouse little pot things to start our seedlings. I thought about making some from newspaper and all that but at this stage of life I just need to get the job done so I bought these.

We have planted the tomato and onion seed.

Next we will be ordering our pots.

There are these new fangled pots out there for container gardening. The first ones we heard about were these. Then we saw the Earthbox and thought that was nifty. Yes it is expensive but you get the dirt too. And finally I opted for a combination of these and these.

Even though I took pictures of the seed starting I don’t think I will post any until we get the box stuff happening.