I’ve shown you photos for a year now of my ever expanding patio garden so today I thought I would share a few tips I’ve learned and a ton of links that have helped me along the way. Gardening has become my stress relief. Anytime I need a break or to step away, I head to my patio and and instantly feel better. I love my little patio garden and I hope for some of you on the fence (!), this might help get you started. Even if you still purchase a good chunk of your produce, I think having a little garden is so important for understanding the cycle of our food and where it comes from/how it is grown.
Remember those 7th grade science experiments? Treat it like that and since it’s not for a grade, you can have fun. Play around with plants and positioning. If one dies, pull it and try again, adjusting for what you think you might have done wrong. The internet is a wealth of information and inspiration and usually you can type in problems and receive answers right back. Also, find a friend whose been gardening and ask their advice!
A few “getting started” tips:
- Find the balance of watering. Obviously you don’t want to forget to water the plants but you also don’t want to be the over-bearing plant mother and water them constantly. You can purchase a fairly inexpensive drip system or find a good watering schedule. On average, I water every 2-3 days depending on the temperature and the soil moisture (there’s meters for this as well!)
- Learn about Companion Planting. My first exposure to this was at my CSA back in Illinois. I was fascinated with watching the planting patterns and seeing what plants played well with others (and which ones needed to be separated.) This is also important even for your herb garden! There is a wealth of information on the the internet (search “companion planting”) and a few great books (I really enjoy this one.)
- Soil. It’s easy to think of the soil as plain old dirt that gets under your finger nails and rubs into your clothes. However, this dirt is a microcosm teaming with living organisms. These organisms keep your plants alive and growing. Good soil is paramount. There is soil specifically formulated for containers (versus the traditional garden). Make sure you keep an eye out for this.
- Fertilizer/Compost. Plants need to eat too. I’m still in the beginning stages of learning about all the wonderfulness of plant food, but this article will get you started as well. There is also composting to consider which, to be honest, is my next project to tackle. However, you can have compost in small spaces!
- Plan for growing up. Get ready early for the vine plants to grow up with trellises and the tomato plants to need support with cages.
- Sunshine. This is a little more “duh” but make sure your plants get enough sun.
A few more helpful links:
- 25 Tips and Tricks for container gardening from Babble
- How-to guide for container gardening from Sunset
- Container gardening from Organic Gardening
- Starting a container garden in any space from Popular Mechanic
- How to start a container garden from Apartment Therapy
- Dwarf citrus and fruit trees. Seriously- I have a lemon and avocado tree growing in pots. It’s awesome, I’m excited, I hope I don’t kill them.
- Want some inspiration for a great patio garden look? Head to pinterest.
Now onto the garden at one month after planting spring/summer plants. To be honest, I jumped the gun a bit but so far it’s paid off. In the midwest when you jump the gun, you risk frost and even potentially snow so I liked my odds in California. My plants are growing strong and next month I’ll be planting a couple more tomato plants to stagger the yield throughout the summer (thanks April for the suggestion!) See what everything looked like a month ago.
Put the internet to work for you.
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