Urban Gardening

We are trying something new this year, container gardening.  I saw something on Pinterest, (you’re shocked, I know) and showed it to Wally.  He read the instructions, tweaked it a bit and built me a nice corner planter for our balcony.

Wally was under a bit of pressure…me!  It was part of that wild, wicked, and wonderful weekend I told you about in May.  It had to be done before I left for New York because I had also seen this idea on Pinterest and my plant starts were not going to make it in these tubes until I cam back home.

I’m not sure if I’d repeat this idea next year.  If I do, I think I will cut the t.p. tubes in half.  When I transplanted them the tubes were sticking up above the dirt a couple of inches.  The idea is that they will biodegrade and the plant grow up.  I don’t know that I have much biodegradable power in my nice new bagged dirt??  Or maybe not deep enough??   Anyway, when I returned from New York, I had a lot of tubes and not a lot of green.  I pulled most of them out and replanted.

 
Things are coming up pretty good now!  We have moved some pots around to capture the most sun.  I think one side of my planter is getting too much for my spinach.  We’ll have to try something different next year if it is a total failure.   We have two tomato plants, one zucchini and one grape tomato.  From seed I have lettuce, spinach, radish and green onion.  I’m looking forward to picking my first salad! 

Here’s another Pinterest idea…spray paint your clay pots with chalkboard paint and write the name of the herbs on in chalk.  I like the way these came out!

This is not a Pinterest idea, just a want.  Wally made me a potting bench.  I really like it. He used old fence pickets for the back and I love the colors.

It was my Mother’s Day gift but Wally just finished it this past weekend.  He had a few setbacks because the place where we were wanting to put it was the utility area at the back door.  The utility area was getting a new fence around it, which Wally also built.  But getting the gate installed was beyond our time control.  So here is the fence waiting on the gate.  That bare spot to the right is my little flower bed…

It looks a little better now! 

  I’m very glad for Wally’s skills, he does pretty good work, doesn’t he?