My pot garden

I have a pot garden. I’ve had one off and on for a couple of years now actually. And I love it. Just because I live in apartments doesn’t mean I should have to suffer from a lack of fresh tomatoes. Or fresh chives for my potatoes. Or pretty flowers. Technically what I do is called container gardening, but you have to admit that a pot garden sounds more fun.

I’ve actually had a lot of luck with several different tomato plants in containers. You just have to make sure you get a big enough container. I think mine is a 16″ one. And if you need a cage for them, you’ll have to shorten the legs on the cages you buy so they fit in the pot. My tomato plant this year is the “patio” variety, and so far it doesn’t look like it’ll need a cage. There is also a baby tomato on it! It’s almost as big as my thumb nail right now. A few more flowers should start turning into tomatoes soon too. Saturday when Brett came over he commented that I’d vacuumed my floor and asked to see my baby tomato. It was an exciting Saturday.42D

I’ve had hit and miss luck with chives. They either grow real well, die, or get stolen. They’re struggling this year. I decided I wanted a full out herb garden this year too, so I also have oregano, mint, thyme, cilantro, rosemary, and lavender. And I have two planter boxes, one with lettuce seeds and one with spinach seeds.

I prefer useful plants, so I rarely do a lot of flowers. I do have a soft spot in my heart for pansies. And if you are going to tell my dad that I have a rose bush, make sure he knows I’m planning on keeping it pruned.

Not only do I like eating fresh tomatoes, and the smell of a tomato plant, but I love working in a garden. I love that feeling of having living things around me. Oddly, I don’t even mind weeding that much. Although with pot gardens there really aren’t weeds.

Saturday I was on my patio working on my pots, replanting the lettuce because I didn’t water it enough the first time and it died, planting my rose bush, and enjoying the dirt. Two different men walked past and said something. The first guy asked if I was moving out, I told him no. He asked if I was moving in. I told him no. He asked if I was spring cleaning. I told him I was gardening. As he walked off I was real confused. How what I was doing could look like any of those things was beyond me. The second guy also thought I was spring cleaning. Those guys must clean weird because when I clean it doesn’t involve bags of potting soil, watering cans, and potted plants.

My favorite non-career job I’ve had was the summer and fall I worked grounds at BYU. I didn’t work normal grounds, I was one of the three or four people who worked at the horticultural garden. It was a couple of acres that they’d divided up into a couple of areas. There was a perennial garden, an annual garden, different grasses they were studying, fruit trees, day lilies, strawberries, black berries, it was a wonderful place. The other people who worked there were horticulture students. I learned a LOT that summer. And I loved being there. It was one of those sacred gardens for me.

I cannot feed myself solely from my garden in quite the same way some friends of mine can. I’m extremely jealous of how much they get from their garden and all the canning of their own produce they can do. But I can add variety, and I can enjoy the work for it. Growing a garden is even included on the Provident Living website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

I hung a thistle sock and a hummingbird feeder in my “garden” Saturday as well. We’ll see how long it takes the birds to find them.